Second Apocalypse
by Cheese Wizzard
Summary: After the first zombie apocalypse 35 years ago, the world has gained some sense of normalcy. Organisations such as the Black Order and small towns such as Wellsborough live in a pseudo peace. But now, the zombies have evolved and are being controlled the Noah family. Allen and his friends must fight for their lives while searching for truth. Violence. AU. No pairings. OngoingIswear
1. Intro

Allen could never imagine what the world had been like before. Well, he imagined there'd be no fences, less guns and a lot more freedom. It's not like there is no freedom, you can leave and go as you pleased, but there was the threat of what was outside the fences that kept everyone in.

The moans of the undead is a constant too, they mingled outside of the fence and, no matter how many were shot down, they always returned as a grisly reminder of the true state of the world. The fences run all around the town that Allen calls home. The town, which had been once called Wellsborough, had been fortified to the maximum, with iron gates and high fences patrolled 24/7. Being only 14, Allen had never had to be on the run like his godfather, nor had he experienced the initial outbreak 35 years ago like his father had. Cross, his godfather, had always enjoyed telling Allen stories of the outbreak and his miraculous survival with Allen's father, Mana, his uncle, Neah, and a varying range of colourful personalities. Allen's favourite was Anita, it seemed that she was Cross' favourite too. Cross also tells Allen of the traumas he experienced in school and his daily life. There's no school here, so Allen doesn't understand how Cross is so against it, it seems safe and productive. Of course, when Allen voices his opinion, Cross always says "Just wait for them to make a school and force you to go every day, kid." If Cross's stories are anything to go by, Allen hopes that never happens.

There was no one Allen's age in Wellsborough, so he hung out with his godfather mostly and would wander the familiar streets when he was on duty. Allen does have a gun, a simple hand gun which he kept in a holster on belt. He also has a large knife that Cross found when he was scouting. The knife is 30 cms long and had the initials C.C carved into the handle, sometimes Allen tries to put a name to the letters, he's come up with some creative ones so far: Christopher Candle, Cadence Carbon, Cipher Caitlyn. Allen's favourite so far is 'Crown Clown', but he's stopped calling the knife that after Cross laughed at him.  
Allen stares down at the unsheathed knife as he sits on a grassy hill. The hill is part of a large park that's been split in two by the town's fence. This is Allen's favourite place to go to because the patrols don't usually come by here since it's so far from the main part of the town. There are colourful flowers growing all through the bright green grass, Allen's glad that this part hasn't been destroyed for housing or new buildings, at the other end of the park there are already people setting up new houses and storage areas because the town's running out of space. 

Suddenly, a bell sounds and the workers drop their supplies and head back into the town. Allen slowly stands and puts Crown Clown back into the sheath Cross made for it. He heads across the park and through the streets to his and Cross's house. The thin two-storey is placed in a row of identical looking houses, only distinguishable by their colourings. Allen's is a purple and cream, with a small balcony out the front and a rocking chair outside the door. Allen unlocks the door and goes inside, immediately heading up the rickety staircase and into his room. Allen's room is a moderate size, with a mattress and blanket in the corner for sleeping, and a chest of drawers in the opposite corner. Most furniture was destroyed before and the rest had been broken down for firewood or building supplies. Allen's backpack was also in the corner next to his bed, filled with a flashlight, first-aid kit and other necessities. Cross had gotten Allen to always keep the bag ready in case anything happens. Cross had also gained the habit of storing as much food as possible in the house as well as stocking a range of firearms and weapons in his room. The people in charge of them here in Wellsborough wanted all unnecessary firearms and supplies to be left in a town storage area; unnecessary meaning the citizens could have one firearm each, when not on patrol, and a weeks worth of food, to be picked up every Monday morning. Cross had somehow gotten away with storing who-knows how much food in the basement and kitchen, Allen worried how he's explain it when the patrol came knocking, but luckily they never did.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTERS ARE CURRENTLY BEING EDITED!  
** **FF MESSED WITH THE LINE BREAKS AND SUCH SO TRY TO GO ALONG WITH IT UNTILL I FIX EVERYTHING**

 **THANKS**

* * *

Allen lies down on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling. It's then he hears a bird's whistle at his window. Sitting up, Allen rushed to his window, placed opposite to the door. As he opens it, a small, bright yellow canary flies through, it's oddly long, feathered tail almost hitting Allen in the face.

"Tim!" Allen cries at the bird as it lands on his head to start pulling at his white hair.

"Ugh! No biting!" Allen swats at the bird, only for it to fly through his open door and into the corridor.

"Tim?" As Allen calls, he heads towards the door. Suddenly he hears a familiar voice coming from downstairs.  
"Brat, you in here? Ugh, whatever." Allen's eyes widen as he sprints down the corridor and down the stairs. Cross has thrown himself onto the couch and is completely unaware to the canary flying above him.

"Kid, good, you're here." Cross turns to him.

"Uh yeah…" Allen tries not to stare at Timcanpy doing circle around his godfather's head.

"What's up with you kid? What are you looking at-" Cross looks up as he says the second part and stops to stare at the bird above him.

"What the-" Cross starts, lifting his hand towards the bird.

"Tim!" Allen cries at the bird. Finally taking the hint, Timcanpy flies over to Allen, sitting on his head.

"Really, kid, a bird?" Cross gets up off the couch and walks over to Allen, glaring suspiciously at Timcanpy.

"I found him hurt a few months ago, I couldn't just leave him…" Allen explains.

"Right… Ugh, whatever, just don't let it poop or whatever in the house." Cross says as he turns back to the couch.

"You're going to let me keep him? Just like that?" Allen says, now suspicious of Cross.

"Yeah well, you'll need the company." Cross doesn't look back at Allen as he sets himself back onto the couch.

"What do you mean?" Allen says as he walks to stand in front of Cross.

Cross doesn't look at him, instead he focuses on Timcanpy, who has now placed himself on Cross's lap.

"I've got another scouting mission or whatever. There's a group that arrived today from a town north from here who want an alliance or whatever."  
"And they're sending you?" Allen says.

Cross laughs. "Yeah, I'm a poor choice for diplomacy, but yeah."  
"How long will you be gone?" Allen asks.  
"I can't say for sure, days, weeks, I just know it'll be a while." Cross leans back into the couch.

"Oh." Allen's voice is small and quiet and Timcanpy immediately flies back to him, nipping at his left ear.

"Tim!" Allen pushes him off with his hand, laughing as Tim starts pulling at his hair again.

Cross smiles at the sight of his godson, before standing.

"Well, how about some food? I'm starving!" Cross says before making his way over to the small kitchen adjacent to them. Cross opens a cupboard and pulls out an unopened can of pumpkin soup.  
"It's nearing the end of October huh? I guess it's time to get festive."

After dinner, Cross announced that he needed to pack to leave early tomorrow and sends Allen to bed, bidding him one last goodbye before heading out to the town hall. Allen goes upstairs and quickly changes into another t-shirt and pants before getting into bed. Allen knows it's pointless to wait for Cross to return, since he comes home so late, so he rolls over and slowly falls asleep.

Lavi was not happy with this turn of events. Regardless, he continues reloading his shotgun. He's currently in the armoury, preparing to meet the people from Wellsborough that they had contacted this morning. Sadly, a new influx of the undead at their walls meant that he had to be extra prepared, even for the one or two hour journey south. Kanda and Lenalee had gone back to their homes to pack supplies, which left Lavi to reload all the firearms. Lavi checked his watch: 10:12pm. He hoped that this wouldn't take much longer, he needed his beauty sleep, dammit!

Then, he heard it: shots were going off and they were close. Lavi stood and shoved the last bullets into the shotgun. He grabbed his hammer, an iron, one, weighted so to destroy skulls more effectively. Running out of the warehouse-turned-armoury, he immediately headed to the source of the sound, only to met met halfway by a groaning, stumbling undead. Lavi stared, he recognised the women, or ex-women, she lived next-door to him. She grunted as she started forward towards him. Lavi lifted his hammer, waiting for the zombie to come within range. As it did, he brought the hammer down, splitting the skull and splattering the brains within. It almost looked fresh, with bright red blood and pink chunks pooling beside the fallen body. As more shots went off, Lavi pulled his eyes away from the zombie and pressed on to the north gate.

Lenalee panted heavily as she ran towards the armoury where Lavi was. She'd just gone to the food storage near the north side, when she saw the gates wide open and the undead pouring in. Now running, she held her knife in her right hand and had a pack full of cans on her back which sadly weighed her down. As the turned down the final street she almost collided with Lavi, who had blood splattered on his hammer and his shoes.

"Lavi!" She cried.

"Lenalee, are you okay?" Lavi asks.

It's then that Lenalee realises she's crying, warm tears run down her cheeks.

"The north gate is wide open! The zombies are just walking in!" She explains.

"What!? How did this happen?" Lavi asks, clearly distressed.

"Who knows?" Another voice sounds from behind them.

A dark figure emerges from a nearby alleyway, holding a thing, long, Japanese style sword.

"Yuu?" Lavi asks.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda snaps back. He jogs up the street to the two of them.

"Are you okay?" Lenalee asks, checking Kanda for any wounds.

"Yeah, this blood isn't mine." Kanda gestures to himself and his sword which are splattered with blood.

"Do you know what happened?" Lavi asks.

"No. But I do know that this town had gone to shit." Kanda almost growls his response.

"What do you mean?" Lenalee look around them at the buildings nearby, checking for any signs of the undead.

"The stores are up in flames and everyone's panicked." Kanda explains.

"Panicked?" Lavi asks, confused.

"Grabbed almost everything from the armoury." Kanda gestured back to the warehouse, where a crowd of people have gathered.

"So we're defenceless!?" Lenalee exclaims.

"Not quite." Lavi raised his shotgun for emphasis.

"Great haul, stupid rabbit." Kanda spits

"What?"

"Just one, you only got one. And I bet you only got the bullets inside too."  
"Hey! I didn't know it was this bad!"  
"Stop it!" Lenalee cries, effectively shutting up the two boys.

"Right. So what do we do?" Lavi queries.

"How about Wellsborough? They're meant to be well stocked, and we can warn them of the hoard coming." Lenalee proposes.

"Sounds good to me. Kanda?" Lavi agrees.

"Mm."

"Good enough for me! Let's go!" Lavi starts skipping towards the warehouse and in the direction of the south gate. Kanda grouchily follows with Lenalee close behind.

As it turns out, Wellsborough hadn't done to well either. By the time the trio had arrived, the town was in ruins. with stray fires burning themselves out. It was almost midnight when they arrived but the town still shone bright, even under it's grisly ornaments.

"This is weird." Lavi says, staring at the wreckage of the town.  
"What do you mean?" Kanda asks.

"There's no undead here." Lavi says.  
"And?"  
"Where did they go? They usually hang around for ages before they get lured away." Lavi crouches down to look at a fresh splatter of blood, seemingly void of a source.  
"Maybe the attack wasn't recent." Lenalee says.  
"The fires are still burning, and the hall got a radio communication just before our town got hit, which was just over an hour ago. Besides…" Lavi touches the blood with this fingers."…This blood is still fresh."  
"So what!?" Kanda exclaims.  
"Huh?" Lavi replies.  
"If there's no zombies then stop complaining. Let's just check for supplies or whatever." Kanda says. He then storms off down a street without looking back.

"Then, let's check these houses, maybe there're some survivors." Lenalee suggests.

"Yeah, sounds good." Lavi grins at Lenalee before starting towards the nearest house, a two storey, next to a bunch of ones looking exactly the same.

As Lavi and Lenalee reached the fifth house on the street, they'd long since realised something was wrong. There had been bodies in every house. No zombies, just bodies. The strange this was, is that they'd been covered in bites, some with chunks of flesh gone. Their head were still intact though, and there were no other fatal wounds, as far as either of them could see.

The fifth house was painted purple and cream and had a half destroyed rocking chair on it's side by the door.

"Do you think an older person lived here? With the rocking chair and all…" Lenalee says, glancing sideways at the chair.

"I guess we'll find out." Lavi says.

' _I don't think I could handle seeing an older guy in there, especially after Gramps…'_ Lavi thinks.

Lavi shakes his head and pushes past the half-open door, splattered in blood. The hallway behind it was equally so, with blood sprayed on the walls. Lavi moved into the room at the end of the hall, expecting another body or two.

But there was nothing. The area was surprisingly clean, with not even a drop of red on the floor or walls.  
"Lavi?" Lenalee calls from the other room.

"Coming!" Lavi calls back, heading down the corridor as he follows the sound of Lenalee's voice.

Lenalee come out of a side room near the entrance.

"This place is stocked! There's enough food in here for months even for all three of us!" She exclaims as she grins widely.

"No way." Lavi says.

Lenalee steps aside to let Lavi take a look. He takes one look inside the room and starts to laugh.  
"This is great! The room at the back's pretty clean too, so should set up a temporary base until help arrives or until the food becomes enough to carry without leaving any behind."

Lenalee smiles and looks around the small house. She then notices a tiny stairwell opposite the store-room.

"Lavi." She says and points at the stairs.

"Yeah?" Lavi turns and follows the path of Lenalee's hand.

"Oh." Lavi says. He then moves towards it, his hammer held ready in his right hand.  
The stairs are slick with blood, thick and warm. Lavi grabs the handrail with his left hand as he makes his way up the stairs.

There's two doorways on the second floor. The one on the left is open, with the door fallen off it's hinges and into the room. The one on the right, however, is splattered with blood and unidentifiable red chunks lie on the floor in front of it. A small table has been pulled in front of the door, blocking the door handle. Lavi grabs the table and pushes it to one side, but not without noticing the scratches on both it and the door, most likely from the hands of the undead.

Luckily, it seemed that nothing had gotten inside.

Lavi grabbed the door handle and turned it, but it didn't budge. Either the door was locked or there was something blocking it.

Deciding to try the first option, Lavi raises his hammer and then smashes it down onto the door handle. A crunch and metallic ring soon prove that the lock has been undone. Lavi pushes the door, and with some difficulty, it opens.

To say Allen was scared would be an understatement. As the undead slowly shuffled towards him, he had no choice but to run. The shots that had been fired just before had lured Allen into going outside into the street to see what was going on. Unfortunately, he'd been met with a hoard of zombies. Allen threw the door closed before rushing up to his room. As he took the first steps up the stairs, he felt something grab his leg, causing him to fall forward. A sharp pain ricocheted through his skull as he slid down the stairs. Looking up, Allen was met with three undead zombies bearing down on him.  
 _No no no no no!_

The zombies reached out their grisly hands to grab him. Instinctively, Allen raised his arms over his face, only for the nearest undead to grab his left arm and pull it towards them.

 _Not like this! Cross! Please!_

Allen's eyes began to water as he started crying for his life.

 _Please…_

The zombie ahold of his arms lunged forward and sunk it's teeth into Allen's hand.

 _No!_

The second joined the first, biting down on his arm and tearing at the flesh.

 _NO!_

The third thrust it's arms forward, pulling Allen closer.

The zombies' teeth tore at him, pulling his skin away. Allen couldn't bear to look as he flailed his inured arm wildly, slapping and swatting the zombies away. The undead let go as Allen made a final pull away from them, but the damage was done. Allen stumbled to his feet and ran up the stairs into his room, pulling the hallway table in front of the door. He slammed the door shut and locked it. The moans of the undead grew louder once again, and Allen could hear the banging and scratching against his door. Allen collapsed onto his bed, pulling his knees into this chest as he cried.

 _It's all over._

Lavi didn't know what to expect when he opened the door, but this definitely wasn't it. A young boy sitting on the ground, with shocking white hair, with a silver handgun pointed at him. The boy could be no older than 14, yet he had an animalistic light in his eyes. His left arm lay limply at his side, covered in a mix of dried and fresh blood.

"W-Who are you?" the boy asked.  
Lavi tries a smile as he puts his hammer down under the boy's watchful eyes.

"Name's Lavi. May I ask yours?" Lavi sits on the floor cross-legged.

The boy looks at him warily before lowering the gun.

"Allen." he says.

"Great. Hey Allen." Lavi says, smiling.

Allen is openly surprised at Lavi's reaction, his eyes's widening.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" Lavi pries, hoping for some answers.

Allen swallows before answering.

"The zombie's came."

"Zombies, huh?" Lavi say's, trying not to grin.

"What!?" Allen raises his voice indignantly.

"Not many call them 'zombies' anymore, Al. People don't like it." Lavi explains.

"Why not?" Allen asks, confused.

"Well, it's childish, tacky, I dunno. People use terms like 'the undead' or 'walkers'."

Allen pouts as he replies. "Can't call 'em walkers."  
"Why not?" Lavi asks.  
"My…my last name is Walker." Allen explains.  
Lavi stares at the boy for a second before his mouth splits into a wide grin. "No way." he says, starting to laugh.

"What? Yeah! I'm Allen Walker." Allen leans forward, putting his hand on the floor in front of him.

 _Big mistake._  
The moment Allen's left hand hit the ground, he hisses, wincing in pain.

Lavi almost jumps forward.

"Al?" He asks, concerned.

"Ow…" Allen nurses his left hand.

"What happened to you, Allen?" Lavi asks as he sits back, watching Allen carefully.

"You wouldn't believe me." Allen says, looking down.

"Try me."

"It was-"

"Lavi!" A female voice calls from downstairs.

"Who's that!?" Allen almost shouts, moving backwards onto his bed in the corner.

"Wait! Al, that's my friend the Lena-lady: Lenalee." Lavi explains before called back.

"Come on up Lenalee, found someone!"

Allen and Lavi stay silent as Lenalee loudly climbs the creaky stairs.

"In here!" Lavi stands and sticks his head out of the door, towards the stairs.

"Oh!" Lenalee walks into the room with Lavi and immediately sees Allen in the corner.  
"Hello there, what's your name?" Lenalee sits down where Lavi was, leaving Lavi to sit to her left.

"Allen." Allen replies, lifting his head a little, just to get a better look at Lenalee.

"Are you hurt? What happened?" Lenalee asks, calmly.

"Al here was just about to tell me, said I wouldn't believe it." Lavi turns to smile at Allen.

"You still up for it?" Lavi asks.

Allen stares down for a few seconds before looking back up at Lavi and Lenalee.

"I…" He starts.  
"Go on, you can tell us anything." Lenalee says, smiling at him.

"I was…bitten." Allen finishes, looking back down as he pulls his knees into his chest, his left arm now hidden.

"What?" Lenalee says, confused.

"You…Al…" Lavi, who had been leaning forward, now fell backwards.

"How long does it take?" Allen asks, his head still down.

"How long does what take?" Lenalee asks.

"You know… to turn into one of them." Allen says.

"Oh, just a few minutes I'd think." Lenalee says, turning to Lavi.

"It's ten seconds for symptoms, thirty for death and forty to forty-five for reanimation." Lavi says.  
He then sits up, like he'd been electrocuted.

"That makes no sense." Lavi says, looking over to Allen. "We've been talking for a few minutes now."

Allen just nodded. "It's…been an hour or so since it happened."  
"That's impossible." Lenalee said, staring at Allen.

"Are you sure you were bit?" She says.

Allen raises his arm, to show the two. The entire limb is a deep red, dark veins and pale remnants of skin or muscle are still visible. Clear teeth indents are visible on the hand and shoulder, as well as a clear missing pocket of flesh in the upper arm. The limb is rough and misshapen, the wound goes all the way up to Allen's shoulder where odd dark stretch marks are visible on the skin by the injury.

Lenalee reaches into here bag a pulls out a couple wraps of gauze.  
"We should…see if we can stop infection. Or at least try to help it heal." She moves towards Allen, who let her grab his arm and start wrapping it.

Lavi just stared, wide-eyed, at Allen and his arm. He couldn't move, it was like he was frozen in fear, but he wasn't scared, just overwhelmed.

Lenalee silently wrapped Allen's arm, slowly making her way up from his fingertips to his shoulder.

"If we find some disinfectant, then we should clean and redress your arm." Lenalee said, just as she finished covering Allen's arm.

"Thanks." Allen murmured.

Lenalee smiled before turning to Lavi, who was still looking stunned.

"We should-" She started.

"Oi! You in there!?" A loud voice sounded from outside, causing Allen to jump slightly.

"Who-" Allen glances towards Lavi and then at Lenalee.

Lavi, seemingly shaken out of his daze, jumps up.

"I got it." He said, quickly heading downstairs.

Kanda was not happy. The streets are filled with bodies, there's blood everywhere and there are no unfortunate undead to take out his frustration on. It seemed that the people here had annoyingly similar thought processes to those back home, the armoury was destroyed and the food scattered in individual packs. Most of the food he'd found had been crushed, spilt or had a little too much flesh in it, in his opinion. Heading back to the front gate, Kanda hoped to regroup with the others, who hopefully hadn't gotten themselves killed while he was gone. As he neared the gate, Kanda grew even more annoyed as his teammates are nowhere to be seen.

It was then Kanda saw a row of houses nearby, all with clear, unobstructed doorways. Walking over to them, Kanda stared up at the houses, the fronts splattered with blood. Crinkling his nose in disgust, Kanda moved to stand squarely in front of the houses before shouting.

"Oi! You in there!?"

After a few seconds of silence, Kanda was ready to try else where. Then, he heard a familiar voice.

"Yuu!" Lavi practically skipped out of one of the houses.

"Idiot!" Kanda growled at him, raiding his sword.

Lavi laughed and raised his hands in defence. Kanda narrowed his eyes at Lavi, he had a bad feeling about how Lavi was acting. Lavi's smile seemed forced and he hadn't tackled him, not that he was complaining.

"What happened?" Kanda asked, as he sheathes his sword.

Lavi's smile dropped immediately, he glanced up at the house he'd come out of before turning back to Kanda.

"We found a survivor."  
"Great." Kanda replied. "And…?"  
"He's been bitten." Lavi said, seriously.

"And you just decided to, what, strike up a conversation!? Is Lenalee alone with them right now!?" Kanda raised his voice, almost shouting at Lavi.

"He's just a kid."  
"Huh?" Kanda said.

 _I don't get it, so what? He's a brat, I doesn't matter once he turns._

"He won't turn." Lavi said, almost unsure of himself.

"What do you mean?" Kanda said, angrily.

 _Lavi better spit out whatever the fuck is up right now or so help me_ _…_

"We don't know why, but the kid was bit over an hour ago and he's fine!" Lavi seemed almost frantic.

"Show me." Kanda immediately powered inside the house Lavi had come from.

"It's great that you still have electricity, Allen." Lenalee pointed up towards the flickering light above them.

"There's a bunch of solar panels in the town centre. I also heard some people talking about a generator underground a few months ago…" Allen said.

The two had become more comfortable in the few minutes Lavi had been gone. Lenalee had now joined Allen on his bed. Allen had pulled his blanket over his shoulders.

"Wow, it's really late." Lenalee remarked. Just as she said this, she yawned loudly.

Allen grinned before he too yawned. Seeing this, Lenalee giggled.  
"After we talk to Kanda, let's get some sleep, okay? It's been a long day."  
"Mmm." Allen hummed in agreement.

"Lena-lady! We're coming up!" Lavi called from downstairs as loud footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

Lenalee stood up to meet whoever it was. She soon returned with a grumpy looking teen.

"Allen, this is our friend, Kanda." Lenalee gestured to Kanda.

"Kanda, this is Allen."

Kanda glared pointedly at Allen, who was retreated further into his blanket.

"You're the kid who got bit."  
Allen visibly flinched at Kanda's tone, looking down as he once again curled into a ball.

"Kanda…" Lenalee said, disapprovingly.

"Hmph." Kanda turned away from Allen and looked at Lenalee.

"Find anything useful?"

Lenalee gave Allen a pitiful look before replying.

"Yeah, this house is stocked with plenty of food, just downstairs." Lenalee then looked at Allen

"It's okay if we take this stuff, right Allen?"

"Mmhmm." Allen nodded for emphasis.

"Good. Kanda I'll show you where it is." Lenalee was about to leave when Allen spoke up.

"Cross kept loads of stuff here. He always thought something like this would happen."  
"Oh yeah?" Lenalee said, turning back to him.  
"There's also, uh…" Allen glanced at Kanda."Cross had a huge stash of weapons in his room too, it's the one down the hall."

Kanda raised his eyebrows, even though it wasn't by much.

"Really? Can you show us?" Lenalee asked.

"Yeah." Allen said, standing. He moved past Kanda and Lenalee out into the hallway. The three of them then made their way to Cross's room, where Allen immediately went to the large bed in the middle. Reaching underneath, Allen pulled a lever, pushing the mattress and sheets back to reveal a large compartment.

"Woah." Lenalee said, staring at the contents.

The compartment had around a dozen firearms, all of different style and size. There was also an abundant supply of various bullets as well as a set of what appeared to be hand grenades. Included is a variety of melee weapons, including a range of knives, a baseball bat and crowbar.

"Wow, Allen, your godfather really knew how to stock up." Lenalee commented as she picked up a rifle out of the compartment.

"Hey, guys. Miss me yet?" Lavi called from the stairwell as he made his way up.

"Lavi! In here!" Lenalee shouted back to him.

Lavi's jaw fell open the moment he saw what was in the room.  
"Won't you look at that…" Lavi said as he grinned widely. Just as he reached into the compartment, he was interrupted by a loud yawn.

Lavi turned to the source and almost laughed at the embarrassed look on Allen's face.

"Sorry." He said.

"Nah, it's late. Let's check the stash out in the morning." Lavi said, smiling at Allen.

"You guys okay with crashing downstairs?" Lavi asked, turning to Kanda and Lenalee.

"You could stay in my room." The trio turned back to Allen, who'd spoken up.  
"There's a bunch of mattresses and blankets in here too." Allen said, gesturing to the rest of Cross's room.

"That sounds good." Lavi said. "It's safer to stay together."

A few minutes of unpacking later, Lavi and Kanda had successfully set up two mattresses in Cross's room for the two of them. Lenalee had also laid out one in Allen's room, so neither of them would have to sleep alone.

"I'll take first watch." Kanda volunteered.

"If you really want to." Lavi said, collapsing onto his bed.  
"Good night, Yuu!" He said as he rolls over.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda whispered loudly, hoping not to wake the already sleeping Lenalee and Allen next door.

"Sure, sure!" Lavi laughed. "Goodnight."  
"I'll be back in five hours." Kanda said as he heads to the door.

Lavi grins and closes his eyes, just as he hears the door slam shut.

It was around 10 am when Allen finally stirs. He wakes to an empty room, with Lenalee's bedding thrown into the far corner. Allen rubs his eyes and stands up to look out the window. Looking outside, Allen spots Lavi and Kanda checking the houses behind his. Kanda's looking grumpy as both teens are empty handed.  
"Good morning, Allen." A voice says behind Allen, making him turn.

Lenalee is standing in the doorway, smiling at him. She's changed her shirt, probably with one she found next door or nearby.

"Morning." Allen replies, smiling back.

"Lavi and Kanda went out looking for supplies." She said, as she takes the first steps down the stairs.

"I know, I can see them." Allen says, gesturing towards his window.  
"Really?" Lenalee walks back up the stairs, into Allen's room and to the window.

"Does this window open?" She asks.

"Yeah, here." Allen leans over and grabs a small latch at the bottom of the window. He then pushes the glass, forcing the window upwards and open.

"Hey! Lavi, Kanda!" Lenalee calls down into the yard opposite where Lavi and Kanda are digging through a shed.  
The two look up at the sound of Lenalee's voice. Lavi waves, smiling widely. Kanda just glances up before going back to searching.

As Allen watches the three interact, he realises how little he knows about them, if little means nothing at all. Allen decides to start asking questions.

"Hey Lenalee?"

"Yes, Allen?" Lenalee turns back to him, closing the window.

"Um… How old are you guys?" Allen asks.

 _It's better to start simple, I suppose._

Lenalee smiles as she answers.

"Oh, I'm sixteen. Lavi's eighteen and so's Kanda, but his birthday's coming up soon."  
"How soon?" Allen asks, hoping to forward the conversation.  
"In a month or so, I think." Lenalee says thoughtfully. She then looks at Allen.

"How about you?" She asks him.

"Huh, Oh, I'm fourteen." He answers.

Lenalee smiles. "I guess that explains a lot."

"Huh?" Allen says, confused.

"It's just…I don't know, you don't act like a lot of people these days. You were born here in Wellsborough, yeah?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, apparently this was one of the first towns or settlements that are still standing. Most people, including me, Lavi and Kanda, have had to survive out there at some point." Lenalee explains, gesturing outwards.

"What's it like?" Allen asks.

"It's…Chaotic." Lenalee says, she looks almost sad. "You can never relax and there's always the threat of _them_ out there, no matter what you do."  
"How long were you out there?"  
"Just over a year. Kanda and I were living in a smaller settlement, but the people there weren't very…stable, I guess. So a group of us left. We eventually ran into Lavi and some others…but we were the only ones to reach the settlement up north from here." Lenalee says, pausing before continuing.

"Did you know, the people there called it Hopetown. It's sounds pretty tacky huh? I guess now it's more ironic." Lenalee chuckled.

Allen didn't dare interrupt, silently listening to Lenalee's story.

"I'm sorry." He finally said after a short silence.

"Oh, it's okay." Lenalee said, grinning. She stood up, smiling at Allen.  
"Okay, let's get busy! We can't let Lavi and Kanda do all the work or Lavi'll never let us hear the end of it."

After two hours of sorting food, packing bags and counting bullets, it was time for lunch.

Lavi and Kanda had finally returned with a selection of first-aid supplies, clothes and a few batteries. Lenalee had brought out some canned beans and soup for everyone. Luckily the oven still worked, but they weren't sure for how long, so the food that needed heating was to be eaten first. Luckily Allen and Lenalee had efficiently sorted and organised all the available food, with some in bags to take, and some ready to be eaten as soon as possible. Everyone ate in an almost-silence with Lavi making jokes or comments whenever he wasn't eating. Allen almost spilt his food once when Lavi started baiting Kanda with words that Lenalee had made him promise never to say aloud.

After eating, Allen and Lavi helped clean up. Since Kanda and Lavi had secured the gate they'd come through, what they needed to do now was to secure the inside. Lenalee had quickly wiped down the stairs that morning, but they were still a 'health-hazard' as said by Lavi. It took a few hours to use towels and such to get the house to a liveable standard. The walls were still tinted a dark red, but no amount of scrubbing seemed to do the trick. As they finished up, Lavi started using the towels to collect the wayward pieces of flesh that were laying at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing Allen's confused expression, Lavi explained.

"Yuu wants to burn up any bodies before they start to rot, so we're making a bonfire tonight." Lavi grinned.

"Okay." Allen said.  
"Don't worry we won't burn anything down!" Lavi says, grinning. "Actually, do you know where we can find some wood? We'll need quite a bit."  
"Yeah, I think I know where I can find some." Allen replies.

"Great! We're setting up in the square near the gate, bring what you can find down in an hour or so." Lavi checked his watch. "It's four now… so we'll get started at around five. Don't be late!" As Lavi finished speaking, he started heading towards the the door and into the street.

Allen watched Lavi go before heading upstairs. Allen quickly grabs Crown Clown from his room, his handgun already at his side. He also grabs a flashlight, so he wouldn't have to come back later.

Allen then starts making his way to the west side of the town, where the park is.

 _I hope no one moved those building supplies from before…_

Luckily, the park appear's to be untouched, the building supplies he saw yesterday are still laying haphazardly around the to-be construction site. Allen smiled as he went over and collected what wood he could carry into his arms, his smile almost dropped at the painful ache in his left arm at the pressure. Shrugging it off, Allen decided to get the wood back to the others as soon as possible. But, just as Allen turns to leave, a familiar groan sounds from behind him.

Allen drop the wood in shock as the spins around to the source of the sound.

Three oddly familiar zombies stand on the hill above him. Staring at the undead, Allen get a wave of nausea as he recognises them as the same zombies who had attacked him before. Allen stands frozen in their gazes, almost not registering that the undead haven't moved and are, instead, standing completely still. Allen takes a few steps back, only to collide with something.

Turning, Allen stares at the thing…no, person he ran into.

It's a girl, around his age, casually leaning on a bright pink umbrella and staring at him curiously.

"So… look's like there was someone left." She smirked as she spoke, spinning her umbrella.

"Uh…" Allen stares and glances at the zombies behind him, who still haven't moved.

"Oh, don't worry about them, they're harmless." The girl said smiling. "Well, they are for now, anyways."  
She pokes Allen in the chest with the tip of the umbrella.  
"So, who are you supposed to be?"

Lavi was not happy. Unsurprisingly, collecting and moving corpses is not a fun way to spend one's evening. The bodies were coated in dried blood and are covered in wounds. Lenalee had salvaged as many clothes and supplies off them as she could before they were ready for burning, which of course led to some awkwardly naked bodies being thrown into the pile. Lavi did his best to cover them in the bloodied towels from before, but there are a lot of bodies, compared to the limited towels.

"I wonder how Allen's doing? Maybe he needs help…" Lenalee, who had just been throwing extra firewood into the bonfire-to-be.

"Maybe…" Lavi glanced around the square and at the nearby streets.

"I'll go have a look." Lenalee volunteered, dropping a last plank onto the pile.

"Yeah, we'll keep working here." Lavi gestured around the square.

"Okay, I'll be back soon." Lenalee said, jogging down a random street.

It took a little while, but eventually Lenalee came across a large park, covered in fresh grass and bright flowers. There's also a large section of planks and disassembled furniture lying at the park's edge. Strangely, there is also a pile of wood lying noticeably far from the rest of them. Lenalee heads over to it, perplexed. As she takes a closer look, she notices a few drops of blood on the wood and the grass at her feet. Lenalee looks around, scanning the park for the source.  
 _Allen was supposed to be collecting wood, it would make sense if this is his…_

Lenalee shakes her head.

 _No, I've got to think positive._

Lenalee walks up a small hill and goes further into the park. She keeps walking until she see's the fence. She heads over, only to notice a giant hole in the barrier. The grass nearby looks completely crushed, most likely by the feet of the undead. Lenalee's eyes widen as she spots more blood just beyond the fence.

 _I have to go tell the others._

Lenalee turns and sprints back the way she came, through the park and past the construction site, and past all the houses and buildings to the square.

When Lavi saw Lenalee running back, clearly out of breath, he knew something was very wrong.

She slowed to a stop right in front of him, almost running him over.

"Lavi!" she said, out of breath.

"Lenalee! What's wrong? Did something happen?!" Lavi grabbed Lenalee to steady her.

"I…I think Allen's left the town!" Lenalee said.  
"What?" Lavi asked. Kanda started making his way over.

"There's a hole in the fence! It's by a park to the west side of town, where I think Allen was collecting wood." Lenalee explained.

"Can you show me?" Lavi asked.

"Yeah." Lenalee said, turning back the way she came.

"Kanda, can you keep an eye on the bonfire?" Lavi shouted behind him to Kanda, who had already made his way halfway across the square.

"Che, fine. Just don't take too long." Kanda replied, turning around to head back down the square.

"Come on." Lenalee said as she started running back down the street with Lavi close behind.

The sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky and a chilly breeze had come in. The park was getting darker by the minute as Lavi and Lenalee tried to rediscover the break in the fence.

"I hope he's okay." Lenalee murmured, anxiously looking around.

"He'll be fine." Lavi reassured her, yet he looked equally anxious.

"Here!" Lenalee exclaimed, pointing to the large gap in the fence she'd seen before.

"Great." Lavi said, pulling his flashlight off his belt. He turned it on and shines it into the darkness beyond the fence.

"See anything?" Lenalee asks, moving closer.

"No." Lavi heads to the fence, hesitating for a moment before stepping outside.

By what seems like sheer luck, Allen had managed to disable one of the zombies. The other two are scattered somewhere in the forest around him. Allen runs wildly, trying to find his way out of the darkness and back into the town. After that strange girl had ordered the zombies to attack him, they'd come at him at an unnatural speed, forcing him through the fence. Now that he thought about it, that strange girl must be in this forest with him too. Allen only hoped that the others would find him before she did.

A low groan sounded behind Allen, causing him to turn around, only to end up face to face with one of the undead. It's wearing it's jacket on it's shoulders, like a cloak, and it's arms are coated red with dried blood. It stares at Allen, unmoving.

"Found you!" the strange girl from before steps in the view from behind the zombie.

"Who are you!? What are you!? You…you're not a… an undead are you?" Allen asks, slowly stepping backwards.

"One of these things?" the girl taps the zombie with her umbrella. "No, no. I'm human, see?" She leans towards Allen and embraces him, her arms around his neck.

Allen doesn't dare move, but as she holds him, he can feel the warmth of her skin and can feel her heart beating against his chest.

"Feel's pretty alive, huh?" She says, pulling away from him.

"You…" Allen can't think of how to finish, only to stare incredulously at the girl.  
"Oh please, call me Road." She says, a wide grin on her face.

"Why are you chasing me?" Allen asks, taking a few more steps backwards.

"Well, funny thing, actually, see, these friends of mine, well, not friends, more like minions, were just running down this town to add to our forces. And I'd hate to leave a job unfinished." Road explained, still smiling.  
"But… everyone in town, they didn't turn!" Allen said.  
"I guess you're right. But they are dead, yes? And you _know_ what happens when they die."  
"But, I thought they turn straight away…"  
"Heh, it's delayed gratification silly! Or something like that. The longer we wait, the better they'll be."  
"Huh?"

"It's a matter of science, really. I don't understand it, but it's worked so far!" Road smirked at Allen.  
"Anyways, where were we? Oh right!" Road closes the distance between them, so that her face is inches from Allen's.  
"I was going to do this!" Road lifts a short, strangely shaped knife, almost round and thicker at the base. The thrusts the knife forward, catching under Allen's left eye.

Allen shuts his eyes instinctively, only for a sharp pain to burst across his eye lid. He opens his right eye and sees Road holding her knife against his face, smiling and laughing wildly.

"Now hold still, I need to so this right."

The pain returned, now above his eye. His vision is blinded as his blood trickles down into his face.

"Just a little more…" He hears Road speak again as another wave of pain shocks his left cheek.

"There! Beautiful! This really is my favourite part!"  
Allen opens his right eye again, his left stinging too much to move.

"Well, I think that's a lie, this part is my favourite!" Road says as she pulls out a small handgun, just like Allen's except it's a bright gold.

"Bye bye!" She points the gun at him, preparing to fire.

Allen closes his eyes. He's fallen to the ground, dirt and wood chippings sticking to his clothes and irritating his hands. It's a familiar feeling, it feels just like the hill he always used to sit at, which was the one by the hole in the wall. Allen doesn't move, waiting to hear the gun go off.

"Allen!" A voice calls from his left. Allen's eyes snap open, only for him to close his left immediately.

Allen looks up to see Lenalee standing in front of him, facing Road.

"Hey! Another one!" Road says. She then leans over to look at Allen.  
"So you're Allen? How many more of you are hiding around here?" Road asks, turning back to Lenalee.

"Lenalee…" Allen says, looking up at the teen.  
"You'll be fine Allen, just stay behind me." She reassures, not taking her eyes off Road.  
"Lenalee, then? I'm Road, very nice to meet you. You're very pretty." Road says, stepping closer.

Lenalee draws her shotgun from her back and points it at Road.  
"That's not very nice." Road says, staring past the gun and at Lenalee.

"Leave. Please, just go away. Or I'll shoot." Lenalee readjusts the gun to point at Road's forehead. Lenalee glances over at the undead at the edge of the clearing.  
"What…" She trails off, her attention diverted.

Road takes her chance, knocking the shotgun out of Lenalee's hands and onto the ground. She then picks it up and empties the bullets onto the ground at their feet.

"Not so dangerous now, huh?" Roads says, throwing the gun to the side.  
Lenalee grimaced, her attention now fully on the girl in front of her. She then pulls out a pair of slightly curved knives from her waist and points them at Road.

"I can still fight." She says.  
"Can you?" Road points her handgun at Lenalee.

"Shouldn't have brought a knife to a gun fight."  
"I don't really think that applies." Lavi, who had snuck up on Road, now had his handgun on the back of her head and a small knife at her throat.

"Really? This is hardly fair." Road complains.

"You haven't been playing fair yourself." Lavi retorts. "Drop the gun."  
Road rolls her eyes as he drops her gun onto the ground and raises her hands.

"Careful…" Allen tries to say. Unfortunately, neither Lenalee nor Lavi heard, meaning neither were prepared when the zombie behind Lavi grabbed his arm.  
In the same instance, Road moved to grab her gun. Lenalee moved to intercept her, only to be grabbed from behind by the other zombie.  
"Now, this is better." Road straightens up, her gun back in her hand. She takes a few steps back, so to get a clear view of the three. The zombies held the Lavi and Lenalee still, looking up at Road.

"Oh, go ahead. It's almost dinner time."

The zombies moved to bite Lavi and Lenalee, who's struggles seemed to go unnoticed. Then, the zombie holding Lavi groaned loudly as a long sword cut downwards into it's skull. As the zombie feel, the form of Kanda was revealed, looking grumpy and holding his sword, which was covered in blood.

Allen was shaken out of his shock as he grabbed his gun, which was lying a meter away and easily shoots the zombie holding Lenalee in the head. Allen scampers out of the way of the newly dead undead's corpse and Lenalee recovers from the zombie's grip.

Road stares distastefully at the four, glaring pointedly at the two bodies of the former undead.

"What a pain…" She says before smiling at the group.  
"Well, I'd hate to leave it like this, but… I really should go." Road says, turning to leave.  
"Who said you could leave?" Kanda speaks up, raising his sword to point at the girl.  
"They did." Road says, gesturing to her right.  
Allen then heard an ominous number of moans in that direction.

"If it were me, I'd want to patch up that fence before the hoard arrives." And with that, she was gone.

Kanda started after her, only to be stopped by Lavi, who grabbed his arm.

"She's right, we need to fix that fence. And we can't leave the town for too long."  
"Fine." Kanda agrees.

"Allen!" Lenalee cries out, rushing over to the boy.

"Oh, Allen, don't worry, you're going to be okay…" Lenalee said, staring at the wound on Allen's face. The blood had started drying, but the wound was still clearly visible: a reversed five point star connected to a crooked line going over his eye and down his cheek. Lenalee tore a strip from her shirt and placed it over the wound.

"Come on, let's head back."

Lenalee helped Allen stand, with Allen's right arm over her shoulders. As the group prepared to head back, Allen remembered something Road had said.

"Wait…" Allen said, stopping Lenalee from moving.

"Allen?" She said, looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Road…She said something weird." Allen tried to explain.

"What?" Lavi said, as he and Kanda turned back to Allen and Lenalee.

"She said, the people, the ones who got bit and…died, are going to reanimate soon." Allen said, looking up at the others.

"What?" Kanda said, glancing in the direction of Wellsborough.

"That can't be right, those people…" Lenalee trailed off.

"Well, let's have another look at them. We were planning to burn them anyway." Lavi said.  
"Alright. Let's head back." Lenalee said, trying not to look disturbed.

Lavi tried to look brave, smiling at the group. "Let's go."

Luckily, it seemed that the bodies hadn't reanimated in their absence, most of them still lying on a pile in the square.

Allen had been left to rest in his room, while the others finished collecting the bodies and firewood. The sun had gone down while they'd been gone, so the streetlights were the only illumination, lighting only limited areas of the main streets.

"Jeez, I'm already sick of these bloodied clothes." Lavi complained as they finished setting the bonfire up.

"Stop complaining, stupid rabbit." Kanda growled at Lavi.  
"Jeez, sorry." Lavi said, wiping his hands on his shirt.

"Guys, let's let light the bonfire already." Lenalee said, rubbing her eyes.

"Gotcha'." Lavi said, reaching into his pockets. He pulls out a box of matches and opens it to remove a match.  
"Yuu, pass me that sheet of paper." Lavi said, gesturing to a newspaper at the bottom of the bonfire pile.

"Don't call me that." Kanda said angrily, throwing the newspaper at Lavi.  
The newspaper hit Lavi in the head, causing him to drop his box of matches.

"Ouch." Lavi said, still smiling at Kanda. "That was mean Yuu!"

Kanda started walking towards Lavi menacingly, his hand resting on his sword.

"Kanda…" Lenalee said almost crossly.

"Tch." Kanda said turning away from Lavi.

"Let's do this!" Lavi said enthusiastically as he lights the newspaper on fire.

"Just light the damn thing, idiot." Kanda says, glaring at Lavi.  
"Yeah, yeah." Lavi said, grinning. He then throws the burning newspaper onto the bonfire.

The bonfire takes a few minutes to fully light, the fire slowly spreading through the bodies and firewood.

The three decided to alternate watches, with Lavi going first. The other two then split off to get some rest before the morning.

Allen woke to a familiar chirping above him. Sitting up, Allen smiles at the sight of Timcanpy flying circles around his head. Lenalee's bed is empty, so Timcanpy is free to fly around the room as he pleases.

"Hey Tim." Allen says, standing to watch Timcanpy fly around.

Timcanpy chirps at Allen, landing on his chest of drawers. Tim looks at Allen almost curiously, causing Allen confusion.  
"What's wrong?" Allen says, raising his hand to his face. Allen's fingers come into contact with a rough fabric that's covering his left eye.

 _Oh, right._ _  
_Allen is shocked with the memories of the previous evening, his hand not leaving his face.  
Tim chirps, causing Allen to look back at him.  
"I'm okay, Tim, really. Just lost a bit of depth perception."  
Timcanpy jumps of the drawers and flies towards Allen, flying around in front of him, almost provocatively.

Allen laughs, trying to grab Timcanpy with his hands and failing miserably.

"Allen?" A feminine voice calls from the corridor outside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm fine." Allen calls back, Timcanpy flying over to land on his head.

"I'm coming in." Lenalee opens the door, revealing Allen in the middle of the room with Timcanpy perched in his hair.

"Allen? What's that?" Lenalee says, pointing at Timcanpy.

"Oh, this is Timcanpy, my bird." Allen explains, looking upwards.

"I see." Lenalee says, smiling. "What kind of bird is he?"

"Tim's a canary, but he's special." Allen says.  
"I can see that."

Tim starts flying around the room in response, chirping loudly. He then lands on Lenalee's right shoulder, leaning against her neck.

"He's very sweet." She says, petting him with her finger.

"Mmhmm" Allen murmured in agreement.

Then, something very bad happened. The darkness outside quickly became bright, a flickering light illuminating the night.

"What?" Lenalee quickly moves to the window.  
"What's happening?" Allen asks, walking over to her.  
"I'm not sure." Lenalee paused for a moment before turning to the door.

"Stay here." She said before running out into the corridor. Allen heard her go down the stairs and the door slam behind her.

Lavi was starting to really hate being on watch. Last time, his town had fallen, this time, well, this had happened. Lavi could only watch in shock as the previously inanimate, burning bodies had decided to take a walk down the street. The moment they'd started moving, Lavi had moved far from the fire to avoid the fiery hands of the undead. He ran to the nearest house, which had a large balcony, connected a nearby alley by a fire escape. As Lavi pulled himself up the ladder, he could hear the growing moans of the undead. Reaching the balcony, Lavi readied his rifle, aiming at the wandering undead. Then, he fired. The zombies were almost confused at first, the gunshot echoing loudly through the streets, disguising his location. As Lavi took the next few shots, however, the undead began to determine the source of the sound.

Hoping the others had heard the commotion, Lavi continued taking out any zombie that got too close to his hiding spot. He watched many undead, still burning bright, wander down the other streets, almost intentionally, towards the other side of town.

The burning assailants unnerved Lavi, they seemed almost unaffected by the fire. Lavi would have been convinced that the fire wasn't affecting them at all, except for the eventual slowing of those burning the brightest. The undead's muscles and brains were almost definitely being abused by the flame, meaning it was only a matter of time before they fell to it. Unluckily, most of the houses in Wellsborough are wooden, meaning there could be some real problems soon, if the zombies decided to get to close.

 _Allen and Lenalee are in a wooden house._

Lavi felt a sickening feeling rise in his throat as he saw one undead brush past one of the houses by the fence. The wall became tinted black with ash, as the zombie continued, walking too close for comfort to the wooden wall. As it closed in on the house's door, the walls started smoking, only a little at first, and then a lot.

"Lavi!" Lavi heard Kanda shout up at him. He'd just run up one of the streets opposite him.

Lavi waved at him, and then pointed at the smoking house. Kanda recognised the threat immediately, running towards the zombie, his sword drawn.  
The door burst into flames, just as Kanda closed in on the undead, tearing it's head from it's body.

Kanda then pulled off his jacket, one he'd found earlier that evening, and used it to smoother the growing flames. Luckily, it seemed he'd gotten there in time, the flaming slowly subsiding into nothing.  
Lavi breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Kanda proceed to take out any burning zombies getting too far off the streets. The effects of the fire were now clearly prominent, the undead barely shuffling along the concrete. Deeming it was safe to descend, Lavi climbed down from the balcony, needing only to disable one zombie with his hammer as he headed towards Kanda and the square.

The bonfire was still burning, surprisingly, coloured ember still visible. Many of the bodies hadn't emerged from the fire, their blackened forms visible within the flames.

"Looks like that fire did some good after all." Lavi said, just as Kanda made his way over.

"Are you nuts?" Kanda said, almost angry.

"See?" Lavi said, pointing. "There's at least half of the bodies we found still here, they must've burnt themselves out." Lavi said, silently laughing at his pun.

"Tch, come on, stupid rabbit, there's still plenty of them out there." Kanda said, starting down one of the streets.

"I'll tell the others, okay?" Lavi called down at Kanda.  
Kanda waved behind him, not even stopping.

Of course, Allen and Lenalee were very aware of the situation. They'd decided to leave the house to inspect the strange situation in the streets below. The two had dispatched most of the undead that they'd seen, leaving only a few that had wandered off before they could kill them. They soon heard shots coming from the square, which was incidentally where most of the zombies where coming from.

They immediately headed to the square, where the bonfire was, but they'd been stopped by a huge hoard of burning undead. It didn't take long to take care of the hoard, seeing as they were clearly visible in the darkness. The only problem was trying to extinguish the fires afterwards.

Allen and Lenalee methodically went around, using retrieved clothing to smother the fires. Just as they finished up, they heard shouting nearby.

"Lenalee! Allen!" Lavi shouted at the two as he ran towards them from the square, he'd only just spotted them on his way to Allen's house.

"Lavi!" Lenalee cried, waving.

"You guys okay?" Lavi said, coming to a stop in front of them.

"Yeah, we're okay." Lenalee says.  
"What happened?" Allen asks.

"Around half of the bodies just up and walked out of the fire! I think we got most of them though."  
"They were all heading that way." Allen says, gesturing behind him. "I think we missed a few."  
"Yeah, me too. Yuu and I were just going to seep the town for any we missed." Lave explains.

"That's good." Lenalee says, smiling.

"Did you put out the fires?" Allen asks.  
"Huh? Oh, um, no, not yet." Lavi says, grinning sheepishly.

"Then we can do that, right?" Allen says, looking at Lenalee.  
"Yeah." Lenalee agrees.

"Well, I'd better get going, I'll see you back at the square." Lavi says, as he starts walking past Allen and Lenalee, down the street.

"Okay." Allen says, moving towards the last of the burning bodies. Just as he does this, Allen feels something moving under his shirt. Timcanpy emerges, chirping loudly as he flies directly upwards and then at Lavi.

"Tim!" Allen cries, reaching out towards the bird.  
"Huh?" Lavi says, hearing Allen's cry.  
Timcanpy lands on Lavi's shoulder, and bites his ear.

"Ouch!" Lavi says, swatting at Timcanpy.  
"Tim! Stop it!" Allen runs over, trying to grab Timcanpy who manoeuvres out of his reach, flying circles around the trio.

"What is that?" Lavi asks, staring incredulously at Timcanpy.

"He's my pet Timcanpy." Allen explains, Tim still flying around.

"That thing is yours?" Lavi says.  
"Uh, yeah." Allen says, smiling at Lavi, who's rubbing his ear.

"You're pet's nuts."  
"I know."

Lavi shakes his head, his ear now a bright red.

"I'm out." Lavi says almost running down the street, leaving Allen and Lenalee laughing behind him.

As Kanda beheaded another smouldering undead, he realised he'd made his way to the park with the breach in the fence.

 _Is this where they were all headed?_

These conscious zombies were really becoming too much to handle. But if they were leaving town, Kanda could only wonder where they were going.

When the group had reentered the town, they'd used the construction materials nearby to create a makeshift barrier along the hole in the fence. But now that Kanda saw it again, it was clear that the undead had been here. The wooden planks were now black with ash and were covered in smears of red and had deep scratches all over.

The undead had clearly moved on, Kanda hoped there wasn't another breach in the fence somewhere else.

As Kanda walked, his left side next to the fence, a sense of foreboding started growing in his gut. His surroundings were deadly quiet and still. There are a few more hours until dawn, so most of the town is still pitch black. Kanda was forced to use his flashlight to check all the dark alleys and other places the undead could be hiding. As Kanda approaches the south gate, he spotted lights in the distance. The lights are dim and were moving around erratically, but after a few seconds of watching, Kanda realised that they were heading his way, towards the south gate. Kanda started sprinting, ducking into an alleyway and into the main street which directly connected to the south gate. Kanda walked up to the gate, which was still closed.

The large doors were a rusted iron, the thick metal bars entwining into an odd floral pattern, emblazoned with spikes or thorns and thick, detailed flowers. The gate had an array of planks supporting it, with a set of locks and chains keeping it shut.

The bright streetlights illuminated a few meters of the road past the gate, where a crashed car could be seen, rusting, at the edge of his vision. Kanda could count the five lights in the distance, almost definitely heading down the road towards them. One light, is much closer than the others and is moving significantly faster than the others.

Deciding to not leave the gate unguarded, Kanda stands his ground, trading his sword for his handgun, seeing that a gun would be more threatening at a distance.

As the light comes even closer, Kanda hears gunshots in the distance, as well as shouting. A scream sounds and Kanda sees one of the lights go out. A round of shots immediately follow, echoing loudly as they grow closer. After a few more seconds, a man comes into view, holding a bright flashlight. The man seems surprised to see Kanda standing there, his gun drawn. The man is holding a pistol at his side.

"Hello there!" The man cries, his shocked expression melting into a smile.

"What do you want?" Kanda says, levelling his gun to point at the mans chest.

"We don't need any violence, do we?" The man glances nervously at the gun, but he keeps his friendly expression.

Kanda, however, isn't fooled. No man would be this trusting to a stranger, especially not now.

The man smiles, but he raises his gun at Kanda.

"I don't want to this this, but I will resort to violence if I have to."  
"You think you're a better shot?" Kanda says, glaring at the man.

The man laughs, " I have a group, you know, back down the road. I bet you can't outshoot all of them."  
"That's if your group doesn't die before that." Kanda says.  
"Hmph." The man glares at Kanda, clearly unhappy at his lack of cooperation,

"Just open the gate, kid."  
"Che."

The two stare off, neither choosing to submit to the other.

"Yuu!" Suddenly, Kanda hears Lavi behind him.

"Yuu! I found-" Lavi stops at the sight of the other man and instinctively grabs his rifle.

"Who are you?" Lavi says, moving slowly towards the fence.

The man keeps his gun pointed at Kanda, but he turns his head towards Lavi.

"I'm here to ask for help. My group need supplies."  
"Why should we believe you?" Lavi says, his hand moving to rest on his hammer.

Kanda is silently glad Lavi is here, he was always better at dealing with people.

"I saw lights down the road. There's definitely more of them out there." Kanda says, glancing at Lavi.

"They're with you?"

"Yeah." The man says, his gaze softening. "One of them's injured."  
"How?" Lavi asks.

"Nasty fall on the way here." the man explains.  
"You meant to come here?" Lavi asks, suspicious.

"We're from a campsite south from here, this town's traded with us before. If there's more of you, they'd probably know me." The man says. "You two, aren't from this town are you?"

"What makes you say that?" Lavi says, slowly drawing his hammer.

"You're in your late teens, I'd suppose, the town leaders told me only one person in Wellsborough was under 20." the man explains.

"You're right. We're from Hopetown, north of here." Lavi says, ignoring a glare from Kanda.

"Well, I know this town, I can help you. I know where the town leaders kept their personal stocks, I know-"

"Save it." Kanda interrupts. "We don't need you."

"Do you want me to beg? For all the food that you can't eat? For all the supplies you won't use?"  
"How many of you are there?" Lavi asks.

"Five, including me." the man says.

"Lavi." Kanda says.

"What?"  
"They're almost here."  
"Huh?" Lavi looks past the man and spots four flashlight beams close by.

"You can talk to them, they'll convince you."  
"Are you the leader?" Lavi asks, his eyes still on the nearby lights.

"I'd say that."

"Good." Lavi says.

The three wait a few moments as the rest of the mans group come closer.

"You never answered my question." Lavi says, causing the man to turn towards him.

"Which one?" The man asks, confused.  
"Who are you?" Lavi says.

The man stays silent for a moment before answering.

"My name Chaozii Han."

It took another minute or so, but the rest of Chaozii's group eventually made their way to the gate. Also in that time, Lenalee had made her way down to them, only asking a few questions before silently waiting with Lavi and Kanda.

The last two members of Chaozii's group slowly made their way to the gate, one of them leaning heavily on the other. The injured one was a woman, in her mid twenties, with dark circles around her yes and her dark hair in a tight bun. She is leaning on a man around the same age, if not a few years older, who is lean with very sharp facial features and short black hair with a long white streak which falls in front of his face.

As they fell into place by the rest of the group, Chaozii turning away from them and back to the three behind the gate.

"So, I don't think we've been introduced." Chaozii finally says.

"I guess not." Lavi says. "I'm Lavi. This…" Lavi gestured to Kanda. "Is Yu- ah, Kanda."  
"My name's Lenalee." Lenalee says.

"Please to meet you all." Chaozii says. "Now…" He turns to his group.

A man in a black hoodie steps forward, taking off his hood. his face is revealed to have violet, triangular tattoos under his eyes and his forehead is wrapped in pristine, white bandages.

"Name's Daisya, nice to meet cha', I guess." Daisya smiles at Lavi and Lenalee, but avoids looking at Kanda. "It's nice to see you again, Kanda."

Kanda growls at Daisya, but doesn't speak.

"You know him, Kanda?" Lavi asks.

"Knew him." Kanda spits.

Lavi decides to leave it, Kanda is just one big mystery he'd rather not investigate.

Another man steps forward, wearing a large tan sweatshirt, his brown hair cut short, reaching his ears.

"I'm Michael." Michael waves, a small smile on his face.

The injured women looks up at Chaozii and then at Lavi.  
"My name's Miranda…N-Nice to meet you…" Miranda says, looking at Kanda nervously.

The man supporting Miranda speaks next.  
"I am Arystar Krory the third. It's a pleasure to meet you." Krory lowers his head slightly as he speaks.

"Now that we're aquatinted, will you let us in?" Chaozii says.

"Lavi?" Lenalee turns to him, "What should we do?"  
Lavi looks at Chaozii and his group suspiciously. "We'll need to settle some terms first."  
"Fine by me." Chaozii quickly says.

"You'll only take what you need and what we don't."  
"Done." Chaozii agrees.  
"You're only staying today. No longer."  
Chaozii looks unimpressed, but agrees all the same.

"And we're not required to answer any of your questions. This is just like it would have been before. Just a quick stop for supplies." Lavi says, glancing at Kanda.

"Alright." Chaozii says, "Will you let us in now?"  
"Is that okay? Lenalee, Kanda?" Lavi turns to the two.

"Yeah." Lenalee says, smiling.

"Che. Fine." Kanda says. "But you're forgetting something, stupid rabbit."  
"What's that?" Lavi says confused.

"You can't open the gate. It's locked." Kanda explains, pointing to the chain and lock on the gate.

"You don't have the key?!" Chaozii exclaims, "What was this about anyway? You have no power to dictate what happens-"

As Chaozii started ranting at Lavi, Lenalee went up to him.

"Allen might know." She whispers into his ear.

"Can you go find him?" He says.

"Yeah."  
"Go." He says. Lenalee immediately runs off, towards Allen's house.

"Where's she going?" Chaozii asks, glaring at Lavi.

"To get the key." Lavi says. "Just wait a few minutes."

Allen hadn't realised that he'd be left alone. Ten minutes Lavi and Kanda had gone off, Lenalee had gone to check on them, leaving Allen to put out fires alone in the square. Once finished, Allen sat on his porch and played with Timcanpy.

That had been ten minutes ago. Allen is getting worried now, Wellsborough isn't that big, and the undead should have been easy to take out, with them moving together and being _on fire._

Tim sat on Allen's head, chirping every now and then.

Allen wonders what time it is, hoping dawn isn't too far away, the darkness is a little unnerving.

Just as Allen stands to find Lenalee, he spots her running towards him.

"Allen!" She calls.

"Lenalee?" Allen jumps off the porch and onto the street.

"Allen! Do you know how to open the south gate? I mean, do you know where the keys are?"

"The south gate?" Allen asks, confused.  
"There's a group from south of here trying to get in, Lavi negotiated with them. We're giving them some supplies, since one of them is injured." Lenalee explains.  
"Oh. Yeah, I think I know where the key is." Allen says, walking towards the square.

The two of them, following Allen's lead, make their way to a large, stone building. A large banner labels the building as the town hall.  
"This is where all the leaders kept their things. The keys should be in here, since the leaders don't keep them on them." Allen explains, pushing open the wooden doors.  
"I see." Lenalee says, following Allen into the building.  
Allen flicks a light switch, and the lights flicker on, revealing a large open office space. Allen walks over to the main desk, pulling open the drawers.

Lenalee starts looking through some other desks, filled only with papers and pens.  
"Found it!" Allen cries, holding up a set of keys.

"Great! Let's get it to the gate."

Waiting for Lenalee at the gate was one of the most tense situations Lavi had ever experienced. Chaozii's group had gone to talk among themselves in hushed whispers. Kanda had refused to lower his gun, leaving it pointed at the group.  
"Lavi!" Lavi turned to see Lenalee waving at him.

"You got the keys?" Lavi asks.

"Yeah, Allen's got them." Lenalee says turning back as Allen runs into view the keys jingling loudly in his hand.

"Lavi!" Allen shouts.

"Al! Glad you could make it." Lavi says, smiling at the younger boy. "This is Chaozii and his group: Daisya, Michael, Miranda and Krorykins." Lavi grinned widely, gesturing to the group.

"Krorykins…" Krory mutters.

"Yes, well, now that you have the keys, how about letting us in?" Chaozii says, smiling again.  
"Gotcha'." Lavi says.

Allen hands him the keys, "Here you go."  
"Thanks Al." Lavi smilies at him, before turning to the gate.

Lavi grabs the lock and looks down at the keys. He picks through the keys, finding one labeled 'South'. He puts the key into the lock, turning it. When he feels the lock loosen, Lavi pulls it open and off the chains. Allen grabs the chain and pulls it off the gate so Lavi can pull the gates open.  
Once open, Lavi steps aside, letting Chaozii's group get inside, before he locks the gate.

"Let's go to the town hall, it's by the square." Lenalee says to Lavi.

"Yeah, come on." Lavi starts down the street, everyone else following close behind.

Allen went to the front, so to stand next to Lavi, showing him the way.

When they reached the town hall, Lenalee pulled up a bunch of chairs so everyone could sit together.

At some point on the way, Allen had grabbed hold of Lavi's hand. Lavi hadn't said anything, only to smile down at Allen and continue walking.

The two of them sat down in front of the main desk, watching as everyone else sat down around them.

"Well, this is lovely, but where are our supplies?" Chaozii says, leaning forward in his seat.

"You'll get them once we all figure out exactly what you need, and how much." Lavi says.

The group talked for an hour or so, long enough for the sun to rise, staining the sky a pale pink. During the negotiations, Allen had slipped out to wander the streets.

Allen found a park bench on the side of a road to sit on to watch the sunrise. Timcanpy sat on his head, arranging his hair into a comfortable seat.

Once the sun had risen, and Lavi and the others still hadn't left the town hall, Allen decided to go home and change his clothes.

The walk back didn't take long, but the town seemed eerily silent. Allen had been so used to having people around him all the time, that being alone like this, even in these familiar streets, gave Allen an otherworldly feeling of separation. As strange as it was, Allen really missed Cross. Allen just wished he knew where Cross is.

Allen knows Cross must be alive somewhere, he just hopes he'll be back soon.

"Then we've come to an agreement, yes?" Chaozii says, standing up.

"Yeah, good talk." Lavi says, standing. The two shake hands, before turning to their respective groups. Lenalee and Kanda walk over to Lavi.

"Hey where's Allen?" Lavi asks.

"He slipped out a little while ago, not that I can blame him." Lenalee says.

"Oh, well, let's get the medical supplies for Miranda, then I'll go look for him." Lavi says, glancing back at Chaozii and Miranda.  
"Right." Lenalee says, smiling. She starts over to Miranda, most likely to explain where they're going.

"Yuu, you'll help out right?" Lavi says to Kanda, grinning.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda harshly whispers. "…I'll help, but I'm not directly dealing with these…people." Kanda spits out the last word.

"Right, well, can you sort out some food packs for each of them. The faster we get this done, the faster they'll leave." Lavi tries, looking at Kanda hopefully.

"…Fine." Kanda says. He then turns and walks out the doors, into the street, leaving Lavi behind him.

"Well, I guess medical supplies it is."

Most of the supplies they'd collected had been deposited into the town's existing storage areas, with the rest taken to Allen's house. The building used was an old office building, only a few stories high, but with mostly open spaces on each floor. The medical supplies were all on the third floor, the first and second being used for food storage.

Lavi grabs what the think's Miranda needs, including bandages, painkillers, a splint and disinfectant. He also grabs some miscellaneous supplies for the group to take with them when they leave. Lavi also grabs some extra bandages and things for Allen, seeing as they were already running low on supplies back at the house.

As he made his way out of the building, Lavi spots Michael loitering near the entrance. The moment Michael sees Lavi, however, he nearly sprints away, back towards the town hall. Lavi quickly dismisses it and makes his own way back.

When he got there, he immediately looks around for Miranda, who he spots in the corner of the room talking to Lenalee and Krory.

"Lenalee!" Lavi calls over to her, waving the bag of supplies for her to see. When she sees him she smiles, quickly saying something to Miranda before walking over.

"Lavi, did you find everything?" She asks.

"Yeah, I think so." Lavi says, handing her the bag.  
"Thanks." She says, heading back over to Miranda, with Lavi close behind.  
"You doing okay?" Lavi asks Miranda.  
"Hm? Oh…Y-Yeah I'm doing fine, thank you." She splutters nervously.

"It's okay Miranda." Lenalee says reassuringly. "Here, we got everything we need to fix up your leg."  
"Thank you." Miranda says, looking first and Lenalee and then Lavi.

"No problem." Lavi says, smiling.

"Well, let's get started." Lenalee says.  
As Lenalee starts fixing up Miranda's leg, Lavi decides to make conversation elsewhere.

"Krorykins, ol' buddy, ol' pal, how are ya'?" Lavi turns to the older man, who's looking around nervously.

"I'm fine, I suppose." He replies, focusing on Lavi.  
"That's good. So Krorykins, how's life in the pack?" Lavi asks, gesturing to Chaozii and Daisya, who are quietly talking on the other side of the room.

"Oh, it's fine, I guess." Krory says, glancing over at the two.

"You guess?" Lavi pries.

"Well, we've only just met. Chaozii's very on edge, but I cannot blame him. This whole situation is very…on edge." Krory explains.

"Oh, I see." Lavi says thoughtfully.

"And you? You're group seems very…" Krory tries, trailing off.

"Oh yeah, I've known Lenalee and Kanda for ages, we're the best of buds." Lavi says, smiling brightly.

"And the other one?" Krory asks.

"Al? Well, we met him pretty recently. He's a good kid and we get along well enough." Lavi says.

"He's injured." Krory says.

"Yeah, we ran into some trouble just yesterday, actually. Some psycho kid running around with zombies."  
"Huh?" Krory suddenly looked very concerned.

"But it's all good now! She's gone, well, we think so anyway. I wouldn't worry about it Krorykins!" Lavi says, grinning and laughing.

"Ah, alright." Krory says, regaining his composure.

"Lavi! Could you lend me a hand?" Lenalee calls over, still working on Miranda's leg.

"Ah, I'll be right there." Lavi says. He swivels around to face Lenalee, who's just finished wrapping Miranda's leg in gauze.

"We need to fix the splint to her leg. I need you to hold it still while I wrap it." Lenalee explains, handing the piece of wood to him.  
"Gotcha." Lavi says, applying the splint as best he can to Miranda's leg.

"Great." Lenalee says as she starts wrapping around it with another roll of gauze.

A minute or so of silent wrapping later, Chaozii and Daisya walk over.

"Do you need our help?" Chaozii asks.

"Huh? Oh, no we're fine. We'll be done in a bit." Lenalee says, smiling at Chaozii.

"Well if there's no need for us, we'd like to take a look around to town, if that's okay with you." Chaozii says, looking around at the four.

"Oh, I think that's okay." Lenalee says, looking at Lavi.  
"Yeah, uh, maybe stay out of Allen's house though…" Lavi says thoughtfully.

"The kid's?" Daisya asks.  
"Yeah, it's one near the square, painted purple and cream, I think, with a rocking chair out front." Lenalee says.  
"Oh, we'll try not to disturb him, then." Chaozii smiles at Lenalee before waving to Krory and Miranda. He then leaves with Daisya by his side, quickly pushing through the hall's double doors.

Once Allen had left his house, he now wears a slightly too big, red t-shirt, emblazoned with star-like patterns. Allen'd also found a green hoodie with a large turquoise stripe across the middle and a similar coloured cap with the name of a long forgotten sporting team. He's changed into new jeans, seeing that his previous ones had been stained with blood and ripped in more than a few places. He kept his shoes, black sneakers with frayed laces, mostly because there weren't that many pairs in his size. With Crown Clown on his belt, as well as his handgun, Allen had a small pack thrown over his shoulder, holding two cans of food, a flashlight, some matches and some medical supplies. Allen didn't want to be caught off guard again.

The street outside is still silent, it seems that everyone is still at the hall. Allen spots the rocking chair he and Cross had left out lying on it's side, a few meters from the door. Dropping his bag, Allen moves towards it, dragging it back near the front of the house. He then pushes it upright, dusting the dirt and leaves off the seat. Allen smiles at his handiwork, remembering when Cross had almost smashed it, just by tripping into it. He'd broken the left arm rest, which was still obviously crooked. Allen stares at the chair for a moment before grabbing his bag and walking off. He immediately heads to the town hall, seeing that Lavi and the others should still be hanging around there.

Just as Allen reached the doors, however, Chaozii and Daisya pushed them open. They seemed slightly shocked to see Allen there, watching them curiously.

"Oh, hey kid." Daisya says, a permanent smirk on his face.

"Oh, hi. Are Lavi and the others still in there?" Allen asks, looking up at the two.

"Lavi? Yeah he's in there. The girl too. Kanda went off to grab supplies I think." Daisya replies.

"Thanks." Allen says, immediately moving towards the doors.

"Hey, wait." Allen hears Chaozii say. Allen turns towards him.

"Can I ask you something?" Chaozii asks.

 _You just did._

"You're from this town, am I right?" Chaozii queries.

"Yes." Allen replies.

"Did you, perhaps, know someone called Cross Marian?" Chaozii says, a faint smile on his lips.

Allen's eyes widen slightly as he stares at Chaozii.

"I…Yeah, yeah, I knew him. Why?" Allen answers, narrowing his eyes.

"No reason, just…wondering. I'll see you around." Chaozii says, quickly walking off as he finishes talking.  
"Hey!" Allen calls after him, only for Chaozii and Daisya to turn a corner, out of sight.

Deciding to go see Lavi instead of pursuing the two, Allen makes his way inside.

"Allen!" Lenalee called out to him as he came through the door.

He immediately looks up and smiles at Lenalee after quickly looking around the room.  
"You just missed Chaozii and Daisya. Also, Kanda went to get some supplies for them." Lenalee explained.

"Oh, yeah." Allen says, dropping into a seat next to her.

"Al, you good?" Lavi calls over to him, currently reclining in his seat next to Krory.  
"Yeah, it's just…" Allen replied, glancing towards Krory.

"What's up?" Lavi questions, sitting up a little straighter.

"I think Chaozii knows something about Cross." Allen tries to explain.  
"Your godfather Cross?" Lavi asks.  
"Yeah." Allen says, looking up at him. "Just outside, he asked me if I knew him. He wouldn't say why, though."  
Lavi leans back, looking thoughtful. "Maybe Chaozii knew him, or knows someone who did."  
"Mmm" Allen hums, looking away.  
"Lenalee! How's Miranda?" Lavi exclaims, diverting the conversation.

"Oh, it's great! It shouldn't take too long to heal, and we're just about done patching it up." Lenalee says, smiling up at him.

"How are you feeling, Miranda?" Lavi asks.  
"Better, a lot better." Miranda says, smiling softly.

"Great." Lavi smiles at her before standing and turning to Allen. "How about we go track down Kanda? We can grab some packs for the supplies on the way."  
"Okay!" Allen agrees, standing.

"Lenalee, we'll be back in a bit." Lavi says to Lenalee.  
"Okay, we'll be here." Lenalee says, glancing over at Miranda.

"Come on, Allen. To the supply house!" Lavi says, pointing dramatically into the distance.

"Supply house?" Allen says, a wide grin on his face.

"Shut up, I try hard you know!" Lavi exclaims. "Let's just go." Lavi sighs, shuffling over to the doors.

"Go on Allen, I'll see you later." Lenalee calls behind him, waving goodbye.

"Yeah, see ya." Allen replies before following after Lavi.

"Yuu?!" Lavi calls into the dark building, looking around for Kanda.  
"Where do you think he went?" Allen asks Lavi.  
"Dunno." Lavi says, walking further into the room.

"He went to get food yeah? Then maybe he's up a floor." Allen says, flicking a light switch. The room is immediately illuminated in a white, flickering light, revealing stacks of boxes scattered all across the floor, some with cans inside though most, however, are empty.

"Let's check upstairs then." Lavi says, heading towards a set of stairs on the back wall.

As they walk up the stairs, they can see that the lights upstairs aren't on.  
"Doesn't that light switch control the whole building?" Lavi asks, turning back towards Allen.

"I think so…" Allen replies, looking up at the darkness with a worried expression.

"Wait here, Al. I'll go have a look." Lavi says before walking further up the stairs.

"Ok…" Allen says, turning back towards the storage boxes. Allen sits on the stairs, his back to the wall. He looks down at the packs in his hands. He and Lavi had gone to get the spare bags from what they had scavenged from the bodies for the bonfire.  
Allen hears some rustling above him, the sounds of boxes and metal cans banging against each other.

"Lavi?" He calls above him.  
"I'm fine Al, but I don't see Yuu anywhere…" Lavi calls back down.

"Maybe he already left." Allen supplies.

"Maybe…" Lavi replies.  
Allen hears more movement above him, before heavy footsteps come closer.  
"I'm coming down." He hears Lavi say, just as he comes into view above him.  
Allen stands, smiling up at Lavi.  
"C'mon, let's head back the way we came. We probably just missed him." Lavi says, smiling back.  
"Okay." Allen says, heading down the stairs in front of Lavi.

The two head outside and onto the street beyond. Luckily, the storage place is only a few minutes walk from the town hall. As Allen and Lavi make their way back, Lavi starts recounting some funny stories about him and Kanda.  
"And then he woke up and he was so mad!" Lavi starts laughing hysterically. "And then…then…"  
Lavi struggles to finish the story, he has to stop walking just to regain his bearings.

Allen starts laughing, watching Lavi holding his sDougch from laughing so hard.

"Then-" Lavi tries to continue, only to be cut of.  
"Oi! Stupid rabbit!" Allen and Lavi look up the street to see Kanda looking grouchily at them.  
"Beansprout! Get over here!" He calls.  
"Beansprout?" Allen murmurs, looking irritated.

"Ha! He's warming up to you, Al." Lavi says. "We're coming Yuu!" He calls back, waving at Kanda.

Kanda just turns away and walks up the street, away from Lavi and Allen.  
"Wait up Yuu!" Lavi calls after him, starting to jog up the street.  
"Hey, wait for me!" Allen cries indigently, running after Lavi.

The two follow Kanda all the way to the square, only for him to turn away from the town hall and down a side street.  
"Hey, where're you going Yuu?" Lavi tries to ask, only to be ignored.

"Jeez…" Lavi says, yet he still follows after him.  
As the three make their way through the street, Allen notices large smears of blood across the front of the buildings. Looking up at Lavi, he sees that he is also looking around at the buildings with a worried expression. Allen looks forward at Kanda, who is staring straight ahead at the street, avoiding the stained buildings around them.

"This is the way to the east gate." Allen says.  
Lavi doesn't reply, but his worried expression turns to one more wary.  
The three eventually reach the gate, Kanda immediately heads over to an odd figure on the ground.

"Kanda?" Allen says, stepping forward.  
"He's dead." Kanda says, facing away from them.  
"Oi, who is that?" Lavi says, walking over to where Kanda is standing.

"I knew him from before. Before we were in a group." Kanda explains, staring down at the figure.  
"Oh." Lavi says.

Allen just stares at the two, unable to hear their conversation. He takes a few steps forward, only to be stopped by Lavi.  
"Allen. Go back to the town hall." Lavi says, still staring at the body.  
Allen tries to get a good look at it, only seeing a large red stain across the floor.

"Lavi?" He tries.  
"Just, go to Lenalee. We'll be down in a few minutes, okay?" Lavi says, turning back towards Allen.  
Kanda is just staring at the body, Allen can't see his face, but his hands are clenched into fists.

"Okay…" Allen says, looking worriedly at the them.

He runs back to the the town hall, his thoughts fixed on the body by the gate. Allen almost rams himself face first into the door, only slowing at the last minute to pull them open.

"Lenalee!" He cries.

"Allen?" His eyes are drawn to the source of the voice. Lenalee stands from her seat next to Michael against the right wall. She walks over to him, still standing in front of the doors.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" She asks.

"Kanda found…found a body by the east gate." He explains.  
"A body? Wait, where's Lavi?" Lenalee asks, panic evident on her face.  
"He and Kanda said they'd be over in a minute, I think they were taking a better look at the body." Allen says.

"Oh, well, let's sit down wand wait for them." Lenalee says, sitting on the closest chair to the door. Allen grabs the one on the door's other side, leaning against the wall.

As the two wait, Allen catches Lenalee glancing at the door every few seconds, choosing not to continue her conversation with Michael who is still sitting to their right.

After a minute or so of tense waiting, the doors swing open, revealing Lavi and Kanda and the body. The figure's arms are over Lavi and Kanda's shoulder, so to evenly distribute the weight.

"Where should we put him?" Lavi asks, shouldering the weight.  
"Ah, over here." Lenalee says, standing. She moves the nearby seats together to form a makeshift bed of some sorts. Lavi and Kanda drop the body onto the seats before stepping back.  
Allen finally gets a good look at the body. It's male, with a long, white beard and moustache. He has wrinkles across his face and some faint, pale scars along his cheeks. He's wearing a long, dark grey trench coat over a white collared shirt and black pants. He has a small pistol on his belt, safety fastened into a holster on his left. His white sneakers are covered on dirt and patches of dried blood.

"Who-?" Lenalee asks, looking at Kanda and Lavi.

"Whoa." Daisya's voice interrupts. He pushes past Lenalee to lean down, looking at the old man.  
"No way." He continues, looking up to grin at Kanda.  
"Who is he?" Lenalee tries again, now looking pointedly at Kanda.

"Old man Yeeger, I though he'd died years ago." Daisya answers.

"You know him?" Lenalee asks.  
"He was in their group, before they got split up." Lavi replies, gesturing to Daisya and Kanda.

"So he told you." Daisya says to Lavi. "How much did he say though?"

"Enough." Lavi replies, his usually cheerful face trapped in a grimace.

"Whatever." Daisya turns away from everyone and the body and walks away, towards the door.  
"Where are you going?" Lavi asks him.  
"Chaozii." Daisya replies, stopped at the door. After speaking, he pushed both doors open, walking straight through the middle, waving into the room for a moment, just before the doors close behind him.  
"What happened to him?" Krory says. He and Michael had made their way over to the group around the body.

"We're not sure, but…" Lavi leans in, pushing aside the trench coat over his chest. "We think this killed him."

A wooden stake is clearly visible, almost completely embedded into the man's chest, directly over his heart.

"He's been dead for a day or so, as far as I can tell." Lavi says, recovering the wound.

"Do you know who left him there?" Krory asks.  
"He wasn't there yesterday or the day before, so someone must've left him there purposefully." Lavi replies. "We couldn't find any footprints around where we found him, so we've got no leads."  
"Did you search his pockets? Maybe he had something on him that can help us." Lenalee says, crouching down in front of the body.

"He didn't turn, right? So, it wasn't a zombie or anything…" Allen says, looking up at Lavi.  
"Hmm? Yeah, I guess so." Lavi says. He pauses and his eyes widen, like in shock. " But we don't know that, do we?" He says, crouching down next to Lenalee.  
"What?" She says, looking over at him.  
"The undead are changing, the ones from last night were immobile for a day before they came back. We can't be sure this one is properly dead, or just waiting to reanimate." Lavi explains.

Lenalee almost jumps up, taking a step back.

"So he could come back?" She says, alarmed.

"It's possible." Lavi says, eyes wide.

Allen eyes the body tentatively, watching for any movement.

"What should we do?" Lenalee asks.  
"The safest thing would be to shoot him in the head, so that he can't come back." Lavi says thoughtfully.

"But, we still can't say for sure that he's infected. There don't seem to be any bite marks…"

"Right…" Lenalee says.

"Should we still check his pockets? We can double check for bites as well." Allen says, stepping closer to the body.

"Alright." Lavi says, leaning in next to Allen. He pulls off the trench coat and hands it to Allen.  
"Check this, would ya, Al?" Lavi says. His grin is starting to return.

"Okay." Allen replies, grabbing the coat.

There are two large pockets on the outside which Allen check first. When both are deemed empty, Allen tries a smaller pocket inside the coat, sealed with a button. Inside, Allen finds a folded piece of paper.

"What's this?" Allen questions aloud, drawing Lenalee's attention.  
"Find something?" She asks him.  
"Yeah." He replies, unfolding the paper. The sheet unfolds into a hand-written note. Allen quickly scans it, eyes widening.  
"Lavi!" He says, lifting the note for Lavi to see.  
"What's that?" Lavi says, grabbing the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Michael asks, leaning over to get a good look.

"He won't be the last. Guess who's next?" Lavi reads.  
"What?" Kanda says, grabbing the paper out of Lavi's hands.  
"What does it mean?" Allen asks.

"Who knows…" Lenalee answers, watching Kanda stare at the note.

"This is bad. Whoever did this is probably…" Michael sits in one of the nearby chairs with a thoughtful expression.

"Michael?" Lavi asks, turning to the man. "Can you go get Chaozii and Daisya back here. This could be dangerous."  
Michael looks thoughtful for a second before answering. "Yeah. Uh, sure. I'll see if I can find them." He gets up and heads to and out the door.

As then group sits to ponder the message, Allen goes over to Kanda.  
"Kanda?" He asks, taking a seat next to him. Kanda had sat right next to the body, his eyes never leaving it.

"What do you want?" Kanda turns to Allen.  
"Aren't you tired?" Allen asks.  
"Huh?" Kanda says, confused.  
"You were on watch almost all night, right?" Allen explains.  
"All night." Kanda says, looking forward.  
"I couldn't stay up that long without getting tired." Allen says, looking out into the room.

"I'm tougher than you, weak beansprout." Kanda says.  
"I guess so." Allen hums, leaning back into his chair.  
The two sit in silence for a few minutes, watching the others talk or sit in silence. After a bit, Lenalee walks over.  
"Hey, either of you feel like some late breakfast?" She asks, smiling at them.  
"Breakfast? Wait, what time is it?" Allen says, sitting up.  
"It's a bit past ten." She says.

"No wonder I was hungry…" Allen says, his hands on his sDougch.  
"What about you, Kanda?" She asks him.  
"Sure." He replies, glancing over to her.

"Okay then. I already talked to the others. I'll bring some cold food so we can eat here. I'll bring some for Chaozii and Daisya too." She says.  
"Do you need any help?" Allen volunteers, getting out of his seat.  
"Help sounds great." Lenalee says. "We'll be back in a bit then." She says to Kanda.  
Kanda doesn't reply, only nodding his head before turning back to the body beside him.

"C'mon Allen." Lenalee says, heading to the door.  
"Okay!" Allen says, following after her.

Lavi almost volunteered to go with Lenalee and Allen, anything to escape the situation.

With Kanda pouting in a corner and the others whispering among themselves, Lavi was starting to hate the almost-silence. Lavi was starting to get hungry too, not that the increasing fatigue was any help. Lavi needs sleep.

Sadly, it seems the problems keep piling up, and problems need to be dealt with.

Since no one had found any bites on the body, it was left lying on the row of chairs. Lavi couldn't help glancing over at it every now and then, almost scared to see it move. Daisya had called him 'Old man Yeeger', Yeeger most likely being his last name. Lavi didn't want to ask him or Kanda anything more about the man. Kanda seemed distressed, and, as much fun as it was to irritate him, maybe this isn't the best time to start asking questions.

Daisya seemed to be less willing to give up information to anyone outside of his group. While his exterior demeanour seemed far more positive than Kanda's, he isn't any more approachable.

Sighing in defeat, Lavi walks towards the doors, hoping for some fresh air. As he passes Kanda, he spares the teen a glance. Kanda has his head down, avoiding any potential eye-contact. Lavi just moves on.

Once outside, Lavi takes the time to inspect the street. The road and sidewalks are splattered red with blood and smeared black with ash. There are clear bullet holes in the pavement, a metallic gleam visible in some of them. Lavi crouches down to look at one at his feet. He can see the crushed bullet lodged in the concrete. Lavi tries to pull it out, with no luck. From his now lower view point, Lavi looks up at the surrounding buildings, dropping into a seated position with his legs sprawled out in front of him.

Lavi tilts his head upwards to the sky which is a bright blue, marred only by a few distant clouds to his right and the sun above him.  
Pushing his head further back, Lavi looks at the doors to the town hall, now upside down.

"Lavi?" Lavi tilts his head back upright to look at Michael.  
"Hmm?" Lavi says, looking up at him.  
"What are you doing on the ground?" Michael asks.  
"Just thinking." Lavi replies, looking away.

"What happened here?" Michael asks, taking a seat next to Lavi.  
"We tried to burn the bodies we found here, but it didn't turn out so well." Lavi explains. "They reanimated before we could dispose of them all and decided to start a few fires."

"When was this?" Michael asks.  
"Last night." Lavi answers.

"So it was before-"

"Yeah, right before you guys turned up. We were sweeping the area when we found you, actually."  
"There aren't…any left right?" Michael asks, worried.  
"Nah. There shouldn't be anyway. If there were, we would have seen them by now, especially since it's light out." Lavi reassures, giving Michael a small smile.  
"Thanks goodness." Michael lets out a breath.  
"Weren't you supposed to get Chaozii and Daisya?" Lavi asks him.

"Oh, yeah. They're coming." Michael says.  
"Hm, okay." Lavi says, narrowing his eyes slightly at Michael.

A few seconds later, Michael silently stands and heads back into the town hall, leaving Lavi on the sidewalk.

A few minutes after that, Lavi spots Chaozii and Daisya coming up the street. Daisya waves at Lavi and Chaozii just stares silently. The two head past Lavi and go inside the hall behind him.

After another minute of waiting, Allen and Lenalee appear to Lavi's right.  
"Lavi!" Allen yells and waves to him. Both Allen and Lenalee are carrying large backpacks, likely full of food cans.

Lavi stands up off the pavement, wiping gravel off the back of his pants.  
"Hey! You get everything alright?" Lavi asks as the two stop in front of him.

"Yeah!" Allen replies, smiling up at him.  
"Are Chaozii and Daisya back yet?" Lenalee asks.  
"Yeah, they came back a minute or so ago." Lavi says. "So, where's the grub?" Lavi leans forward, one hand sneaking over to her pack. Lenalee notices his movement and takes a few quick steps back, frowning at Lavi.  
"You'll get your food when everyone else does, Lavi." She says, turning away from him to walk inside.  
"Jeez." Lavi says, grinning and rubbing his head.  
"C'mon Lavi, let's eat!" Allen says, pulling Lavi's arm as he heads after Lenalee.

"It's about time." Lavi says, letting himself get pulled along by Allen into the town hall.

Lenalee rallies everyone in the hall, moving a few tables together to the centre of the room. As everyone starts pulling up chairs, Lenalee spots Lavi and Allen coming through the door.

"Hey!" Lavi waves towards her as the two come in.  
Allen drops his bag by the table and pulls out the cans inside, lining them up on the table.  
The cans they'd grabbed didn't need to be heated so they could be eaten straight away.

Kanda didn't move from his spot by the door, not even looking up at the commotion. Lenalee finishes up unpacking her bag and heads over to him.  
"Kanda, it's time for breakfast." She says warily, hoping to not aggravate him.  
"Che." Kanda doesn't look up at her, but he raises his head a bit and starts over to the table. He grabs the chair closest, next to Michael and an empty seat. Lenalee grabs the seat next to Kanda, opposite Lavi.

"Soups up." Lavi happily says, grabbing a can of soup.  
Everyone else slowly takes a can each, passing around the two can openers available and taking a spoon from the pile Lenalee had brought.

No one talks as they eat, even Lavi, who's glancing around at everyone at the table.  
The first to finish is Kanda, who drops the empty can and spoon on the table and heads back over to the body against the wall.

Eventually almost everyone else finishes, stacking the empty cans in the middle of the table. Allen and Lavi were the last ones at the table so they could help clean up after everyone.

Lavi grabs all the empty cans as Allen packs the spoons into his pack.

"You ready?" Lavi asks, once he has all the cans in his arms.

"Yeah," Allen replies, slinging his pack over the shoulder.

The two leave the town hall and head towards a small warehouse near the town centre. The town used to deposit all their trash there, burning what could be burnt at the end of every week.

Allen waits outside as Lavi throws the empty cans into the 'can corner', where dozens of stacks of cans lay behind a partially walled off area. Lavi emerges empty handed, wiping the food's remains onto his jeans.  
"Where next?" Lavi asks.

"Food storage, it's where all the cutlery and other stuff is kept." Allen replies, shouldering his pack.  
The two then head down a few streets to the food-building where Allen diverts to a large shed. He pushes open the rusted, corroded doors to reveal boxes of forks, knives, spoons, plates and bowls stacked along the sides of the shed. Metal pans and pots sit in plastic bags on the floor, hints of rust visible on the outermost metal. Allen dumps the cutlery out of his bag and into an unmarked, empty, cardboard box, which was the one Lenalee and Allen had first taken the spoons from.  
"Did you really need all these forks?" Lavi asks, gesturing to the plentiful boxes full of them.  
"You never know, forks can be very useful for other things than eating." Allen explained, walking over to the box-pile.  
"Oh yeah? Give me one example." Lavi challenges, crossing his arms.

"Like…this!" Allen spins around at the last word, jabbing Lavi in the gut with an intricately designed silver fork. Lavi doubles over, tripping over himself.

"Very funny Al." Lavi says, once he'd regained his composure.  
"I wonder if you could kill a zombie with a fork…" Allen wonders, looking at his fork curiously.

"If you had enough of them, I bet you could." Lavi comments, grabbing a slightly larger, rusted fork from a box.

"If you got close enough…" Lavi makes a stabbing gesture into the air. "I'm sure you could get it's eye and reach it's brains, it wouldn't be easy though." Lavi drops the fork back into the box.  
"I much prefer my gun." Allen agrees, dropping his fork next to Lavi's.

"Come on, let's get back to the others." Lavi heads out of the shed and closes the doors behind Allen.  
"Will Chaozii and the others leave today?" Allen asks.

"Probably." Lavi replies as the two start towards the town hall.

"I hope Miranda get's better soon." Allen confesses, a worried expression of his face.  
"She'll be fine. Lenalee even gave her and Krory extra supplies for her leg." Lavi reassures.

"Yeah." Allen agrees and quickens his pace.

The two continue walking in silence after that.

Lenalee couldn't help not looking at the body by Kanda. The figure disturbed her, she silently hoped they'd burn it soon. She had just finished talking to Krory when a loud thud sounded from the door.

They all turn to see the previously immobile corpse laying on the floor by the chairs. Kanda has his sword drawn and pointed at the body, waiting for it to move again.

"He's one of them?" Michael cries out, drawing his pistol.  
"Wait!" Kanda growls, taking a few steps closer.

"Be careful!" Lenalee calls, her hands clenched into fists by her side.

The whole room tenses as everyone silently watches the figure.

"Is it.." Miranda tries, warily glancing around the room.  
"Che." Kanda lowers his sword and moves closer.

Suddenly, the figure jumps out at Kanda, who swears profusely as he pushes the zombie off him.

"Kanda!" Lenalee shouts, running over to him.

The doors swing open to reveal Lavi and Allen who both have their guns drawn.  
"Look out!" Lenalee points to Kanda wrestling the undead, who's viciously attempting to bite down on Kanda's face. Lavi jumps into action, drawing his hammer in his right hand to swing at the zombie's head.  
Allen aims his gun, waiting for his chance. Lavi is then tipped by his momentum, causing him and the undead to clumsily roll to the side, off of Kanda. Lavi jumps back as Kanda scrambles to his feet.  
"Move!" Allen calls, causing Kanda and Lavi to take one look at Allen before practically diving aside.

Allen takes a second to re-aim his shot before he pulls the trigger.

The loud bang echoes across the room, the recoil causing Allen to stumble slightly. He looks up to catch the zombie hit the ground, sprays of blood receding as a red puddle forms beneath him.

"Good shot." Allen turns to see Kanda mutter at him before moving to the body.

"Are you alright?" Lenalee moves over to Kanda before checking Allen and Lavi for injuries.

"Fine." Kanda dismissed her to check over the body.

"We're fine, Lena-lady, swear." Lavi makes a crossing motion over his heart.

"Good." Lenalee says, obvious relief on her face.

"Good shot." Daisya and Chaozii walk over from their corner of the room.  
"You could've helped, you know." Lavi says offhandedly, barely glancing at the two.

"You had it covered." Chaozii replies. "It came back. How?"  
"I wouldn't know." Lavi says, turning back to the body.

"I'll throw it on the pile." Kanda declares, swinging the corpse over his shoulder before walking outside.

"So…who's cleaning this up?" Lavi tries, looking hopefully at Lenalee.  
"We all will. Come on." Lenalee walks over to the janitor's closet on the far wall, producing two mops, a bucket and some cleaning liquid. She hands one mop to Lavi, who gives her a pitiful expression before taking it reluctantly.  
"Allen, get me some water, would you?" Lenalee hands the bucket to Allen.  
"Sure!" Allen replies, taking the steel bucket.  
Allen heads outside and around to the side of the building. In the clearing, a well-like hole is visible, with a tap protruding from the ground nearby. The water system relied on part of the sewers which had been drained, cleaned and cut off from the rest of the system, leaving only three points of access to the water. The taps had been taken off various appliances and applies to the mismatched pipes controlling the water flow which is sourced from a far off river.

Allen used to be convinced that he would get zombie-bits in his water until Cross had taken him to see the filters in the pipes at the the river.  
As Allen filled the bucket, he glances into the large hole, covered only by a green plastic mesh held to the ground with tent pegs. He can hear the water flowing through the pipes below as well as a distinct dripping sound echoing through the sewage tunnels. Allen doesn't get much time to ponder the sound as the bucket almost overflows next to him.  
Once he turned off the tap and returned some of the excess water through the mesh, he heads back, the thought of the dripping far from his mind.

An artificial lemon smell filled the room in a matter of seconds. Once Lenalee had added the liquid to the water Allen had brought, the smell seemed to intensify as the water turned a sickly yellow-green.

"Ew." Allen pulls a face, taking a step back from the concoction. "I'll wait over there." Allen powers over to the far corner of the room, using the sleeve of his hoodie to cover his nose.

After a few minutes of cleaning, Lavi made his way over to Allen, who hadn't moves from his seat in the corner.  
"We're done now, Lenalee's tipping the stuff in the sink." Lavi gestures to Lenalee who's standing over a small sink, pouring the now orangey solution in.

Allen removes his hand only to re-cover his nose.

"You smell." Allen says, looking warily at Lavi.

"What? I do not." Lavi insists, leaning closer to Allen. "I'm not smelly, am I?"  
Allen glares at him, pointing at the blood stains on Lavi's jeans and yellow splatters on his shirt.

"Okay, I'm a bit dirty. Got anything I can change into?" Lavi concedes.

"Yeah." Allen gets up, his left hand still over his nose.

The two make their way to a building Lavi is unfamiliar with, concrete and painted an uncomfortable shade of orange.  
"There're clothes kept in here. Clean ones." Allen explains.  
"Cool." Lavi opens the white door, revealing rows of white, plastic tables. Each table has a certain colour and type of clothes folded or thrown on top.

"I'll wait outside." Allen says as Lavi grabs an atrociously bright orange scarf.

The street outside is small and cramped, the one-way road dotted with loose beads of asphalt and rubber.

All of a sudden, Allen hears loud footsteps from down the street.  
"That won't work! They won't just give in to us!"  
"It will work, trust me. These kids-"

"It doesn't matter that they're kids, they're survivors, just like us, and they won't stand for you bossing them around."  
Allen hears the voices get closer, causing him to panic. He looks around frantically for a place to hide. Spotting an alley nearby, Allen throws himself into it, crouching behind a dumpster.

"Whatever you're planning, I want no part of it." _Daisya?_

The voices become more coherent as they grow closer.  
"You'll regret that." _Chaozii_.

"I won't. This isn't the right way to go about things."  
"There's no other way."  
"Bullshit."  
Allen tries to regulate his breathing as the footsteps pass his hiding place. Allen tries to get a look at the two, leaning around the bin.

"Don't you-"  
Allen stops abruptly and hold his breath.  
"What?"  
"Shut up." Chaozii whispers loudly.

"What?" Daisya says louder.

"Shut up!" Chaozii says again.

Allen wishes he could see the two, he has no idea what they're-

"Come out!" Chaozii shouts. "I know you're here somewhere."  
"Chaozii…" Daisya tries.

"Someone's here."  
"Are you sure?" Daisya asks, now on high alert.  
"I heard something move." Chaozii explains, his footsteps starting again.  
Allen glances around him, seeing if he's bumped anything. He then notices a rat, across the alley, standing atop a ring of keys.  
Allen's eye's widen as Chaozii's foot steps grow louder and slower, definitely by Allen's hiding place.

"You leave me no choice." Chaozii steps into the alley, only having to glance around for a second before he spots Allen on the floor.

"Gotcha!" Chaozii exclaims, grabbing Allen by his right arm and pulling him up.  
"Kid…" Allen looks over to Daisya, who's looking back and forth between the two with a conflicted expression.  
"Didn't your parent tell you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" Chaozii asks, pulling Allen into the street.

"Let me go!" Allen shouts, flailing around, hoping to loosen Chaozii's grip.  
"I don't think so." Chaozii says. "Huh?"  
Chaozii grabs Allen's left arm, still covered in bandages.  
"Ow!" Allen cries and Chaozii handles his injured arm.  
"What?" Chaozii stares at the now bloodied bandages, the wound reopening from being grabbed do roughly. Chaozii starts pulling off the bandages, a determined expression on his face.

"Stop it!" Allen cries, trying to push off the man.  
"Chaozii, what are you doing!?" Daisya cries, yet he makes no movement to intervene.

As Chaozii pulls away the last strip of fabric, he looks triumphant.  
"As I suspected." Chaozii holds his free hand out to Daisya.

"Daisya, I need your gun." Chaozii demands.  
"What!?" Daisya protests, taking a step back.

"Don't you see? This one's been bit." Chaozii explains, shifting his position to face Daisya, who got a clear view of the healing bites on Allen's arm.  
"What the-" Daisya stares at Allen, who's still trying to attack Chaozii.

"Your gun, Daisya, NOW."

Allen hadn't had any idea it was so hard to fight with one eye. With his left injured and healing, Allen only has his right eye to view the world, unsurprisingly, having only one eye does horrors to one's depth perception. Allen decided that he'd have to ask Lavi for tips later.

"Your gun, Daisya, NOW."  
Allen, who'd tuned out of the conversation so far, was shocked back in at Chaozii's demand.  
"Don't!" Allen cries, fighting harder against Chaozii's grip.  
"Quickly." Chaozii shouts at Daisya, who's frozen in place.

"Fine." Chaozii says impatiently. He drops Allen in front of him, who immediately tries to get up.

Chaozii quickly pulls out his own gun and points it at Allen.  
"We need to eliminate the threat."

"Al! What do you think?"  
The three turn to see Lavi emerge from the nearby building, newly dressed in a brown hoodie, dark blue jeans and white sneakers. He's thrown the orange scarf over hid shoulders and has tied and emerald green bandana over his head, keeping his hair out of his eye.

"Al?" Lavi glances around before focusing of Chaozii and Daisya, more specifically on Chaozii's gun.  
"Lavi!" Allen calls out, pushing himself up off the floor.

"Don't you-" Chaozii starts, only to be cut off by Lavi's hammer smashing into the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.  
Lavi then turns to Daisya, his eyes narrowed.

"Shit, I didn't do anything, I swear." Daisya says frantically, raising his hands in surrender.  
Lavi looks over to Allen for confirmation. Allen nods slightly.  
"Fine." Lavi lowers his weapon, glancing distastefully at Chaozii.

"What happened anyway?" Lavi asks.

"Chaozii was planning to take over and steal all the supplies here." Daisya explained. "Then he, uh, found your friends listening in on us." He gestured to Allen, who'd finally stood.

"Let's get back to the town hall." Lavi says. "You think you can carry him?" Lavi asks Daisya, gesturing to Chaozii.

"Yeah, I'll get him."  
Lavi turns back to Allen, who'd trying to cover his arm with his sleeve.

"You alright Al?" Lavi asks.  
"Kinda hurts." Allen replies, holding his arm gingerly.  
"We'll redress it at the hall, okay?" Lavi reassures, giving Allen a wide grin.  
"Okay."  
"Lavi! Allen!" Lavi, Daisya and Allen turn to see Lenalee, Kanda and Michael running towards them.

"Hey!" Lavi calls, waving at the group.

Daisya awkwardly shoulders Chaozii, who's slipping out of his grip.

"What happened?" Michael asks, looking worriedly at Chaozii.

"I knocked him out." Lavi confesses, sending a sharp glare at Chaozii's unconscious form.

"Why?" Lenalee asks, looking concerned.

"He pulled a gun on Allen and Daisya says he was planning to take our supplies." Lavi explains.

"What!?" Lenalee exclaims, looking worriedly at Allen, who waves dismissively.

"We were just going to head back." Lavi admits.

"Well, let's do that." Lenalee replies before turning and heading back the way she came, with everyone else following close behind.

Lenalee carefully rewraps Allen's arm, reapplying disinfectant as she goes. Lavi sits on Allen's other side, occasionally cracking jokes. Allen can feel the stares of everyone in the room, specifically on the obvious bite marks in his arm. Chaozii has been laid on the floor, in the corner further from the door. Daisya is currently hovering over him, waiting for him to stir.

"How long until he wakes up?" Allen hears Miranda, who's conversing worriedly with Lenalee.

"Soon, I think, he wasn't hit _that_ hard." Lenalee answers, sending a glance at Lavi.

"Yeah, he's just being a baby about it." Lavi confirms, smirking.

"O-Oh, okay." Miranda sits back down, next to Krory.

Just as Lenalee finished wrapping Allen's arm, a loud groan sounds.

"Ugh." Chaozii stirs, his hand on his head.

"Good morning sunshine." Lavi calls over, standing.  
"Wha-" Chaozii starts, only to be cut off. Kanda's sword's pressed against his throat, barely cutting the skin.

"One reason." Kanda growls, leaning into the blade.

"Che." Chaozii glares at Kanda, not saying a word.

"I'm going to do it." Kanda announces.

"Kanda, don't!" Lenalee cries, running over to him.

"Why?" Kanda asks, not removing his blade.

"We're not killers." Lenalee answers, not looking at Chaozii.

"Oh, I'm sure." Chaozii says, smirking up at Kanda and Lenalee.

"Let's let him go. Ditch him outside the town, if he comes back…" Lavi proposes. "…the you can kill him."  
"Lavi…" Lenalee trails off.

"Fine." Kanda agrees.

"Fine." Lenalee agrees, sighing.  
"We'll go too." Krory interrupts. "Not…Not with him, but we should leave." Krory barely glances at Chaozii, who's still on the floor.  
"You don't have to-" Lenalee tries.

"No, no. It was the deal, anyway. It's getting a bit crowded." Michael says, looking at Krory and Miranda for confirmation.

"Y-Yeah." Miranda replies.  
"When do you want to go?" Lavi asks, looking around at Daisya, who's moved to stand with Krory.

"Midday, I'd think." Michael answers.  
"Alright, you have everything you need, right?" Lenalee asks.  
"Yeah, we think so." Krory replies, smiling. "You've all been a great help."

"No problem." Lenalee says, smiling widely.

"What time is it now?" Lavi asks.  
"11:30" Allen answers, still in his seat.  
"Well, you should get your supplies together." Lavi says. "Kanda, wanna help throw out the trash?"  
Lavi gestures to Chaozii, smiling widely.

"Che." Kanda replies.

"I'll take that as a yes."


	3. Chapter 2

Allen waved his last goodbyes as Michael, Krory, Miranda and Daisya made their way out of the hall. Lavi and Kanda has taken Chaozii as few minutes ago, leaving Lenalee and Allen in the hall alone.

"You want to go see them off?" Lenalee asks him.  
"Yeah."  
The two start after the group to the door, only to hear an unmistakable shriek coming from the street beyond.

"Miranda!" Lenalee cries, pushing the doors open. She and Allen rush through, drawing their weapons.  
The street beyond is empty, leading Lenalee and Allen to head to the North gate. As they round the corner, they almost collide with Miranda, who's stumbling away from the gate.  
"Miranda! Are you okay?" Lenalee asks, steadying the woman.  
"There's…There…" Miranda trails off, sobbing uncontrollably.

As Lenalee comforts Miranda, Allen powers ahead, running around the corner.

The pavement around the gate is unrecognisable, splattered with bright and dark blood.

"Lavi! Kanda!" Allen shouts, running through the gate.  
"Beansprout!" Allen turns to see Kanda running towards him, his clothes sprayed with dark blood.

"Get back inside!" Kanda shouts, glancing around him anxiously.

"What? What's happening?" Allen asks.  
"What do you think?" Kanda growls.  
"Allen!" Lavi runs over, his hammer stained with blood.

"There's a hoard of zombies up ahead." Lavi explains before turning to Kanda. "The others are trapped on the other side, they won't hold out much longer."  
"You mean…" Allen interrupts, eyes wide.  
"Sorry, Al." Lavi says, looking genuinely upset.  
"No…" Allen feels his stomach drop.  
 _Michael, Krory, Daisya._

"We need to get back into town." Lavi says, putting his hand on Allen's shoulder.  
"No." Allen whispers.  
"Al?" Lavi asks, concerned.  
"No." Allen says louder.

"Beansprout." Kanda starts.  
"NO!" Allen shouts, pushing past Lavi to head down the path.

"Allen!"  
Allen can hear Lavi call after him, but he keeps running. As he goes over a small hill, Allen get's his first view of the hoard.

There's at least a hundred, all moaning and in a tight circle, surrounding three people.  
Allen rushes forward, screaming again.

" **NO!"**

It's not like Allen had expected something to happen, maybe an adrenaline boost at the most. What he didn't expect was for the entire hoard to turn towards him, silencing their moans and stopping any movement sans the slight swaying of their bodies.

"Huh?" Allen mutters, staring at the frozen hoard.  
Hoping for the best, Allen starts forward, eyes locked with the hoard's. As Allen reaches the wall of undead, they zombies part to let him pass.

"What's happening?" Allen hears Krory's voice.  
"Wouldn't know." Daisya's voice sound weak, barely sounding even in the silence.

"Daisya? Krory?" Allen asks, trying to see over the undead.  
"Kid?" Daisya's soft voice sounds again.  
"Wait there! I'm coming!" Allen calls out, speeding up, pushing past the docile zombies around him.

As Allen reaches the centre of the hoard, He can see Daisya on the ground, with Krory standing over him.  
"Allen!" Krory says, looking around at the zombies. "What's going on?"  
"I… I don't know." Allen replies, moving into the small clearing.

"Is he…?" Allen asks, looking down at Daisya.  
"I'm not dead yet, kid." Daisya says, smirking up at him. "And…yeah, got me in the leg, wanna see?" Daisya raises his left leg slightly, revealing a large tear in his pants, dripping thick blood.

"I-"

"Allen!"  
"Beansprout!"  
Allen turns to see Lavi and Kanda running at him, Lavi pushing though the undead while Kanda skilfully avoids contact. The zombies' eyes follow them as they pass.

"What the fuck?" Kanda says, poking a zombie with the tip of his sword.  
"IT just happened." Allen tries to explain, looking at Krory and Daisya helplessly.

"Where's Michael?" Lavi asks, after glancing around them.  
He tried to get back to you. I hoped he'd made it." Krory explains, now looking even sadder.

"Daisya." Kanda says, looking down at him.  
"Yo." Daisya raised his hand in greeting. "You gonna shoot me now, or later?"

"We're-" Lavi starts.  
"Now." Kanda interrupts, pointing his sword at Kanda.  
"Good." Daisya relaxes a bit, lying almost flat on the floor. "By the way, if you ever see him, tell the old man goodbye for me."  
"Che."  
"Thanks." Daisya closes his eyes, as Kanda brings his sword up above him.  
Lavi grabs Allen's uninjured hand, pulling him a step away from Daisya.  
Allen looks back at him curiously, only to hear a sickening wet noise behind him.

"I wouldn't look." Lavi mutters, loud enough for Allen to hear.  
Allen maintains eye contact with Lavi as he heard a heavy thus behind him.  
"Done."  
Allen turns to see Kanda wiping his hands on his already bloodies pants, Daisya's body now out of sight.

"Where?" Allen asks, looking around.

Kanda only gestures behind him, to the wall of undead.  
"Oh." Allen replies in understanding before turning to Krory.

"Is Miranda okay?" Krory asks him.  
"We ran into her at the town, she's okay." Allen reassures, giving Krory a small smile.

"Thank god." Krory replies, earning a quiet huff from Kanda.

"Let's get back, before these things get back into action." Lavi says, prodding an undead with his hammer.  
"Alright." Krory agrees.

_

Lenalee had a hard time comforting Miranda, who'd collapsed once Allen left. As the two sit on the side walk, Lenalee tries to clam her.  
"Miranda, they'll be back soon, I promise." Lenalee reassures, rubbing the woman's back.

"Michael… Daisya…" She sobs, her head in her hands.

"Miranda…" Lenalee starts.  
Suddenly, a loud groan sounds, causing Lenalee to look up.  
A stockily familiar corpse stumbles towards the two across the street.  
"Michael?" Miranda's soft voice calls, one hand raised at the undead.

"Oh, god." Lenalee whispers before drawing her knife.

"Lenalee…" Miranda sniffles.  
"I got this." Lenalee says, taking a step towards Michael's body.

It lunges towards her as she speaks, it's arms flailing wildly. Lenalee thrusts her knife forward, though Michael's right eye socket.

"Ugh." Miranda moans behind Lenalee, sobs echoing through the empty street.

The zombie collapses as Lenalee removes her knife, spraying thick blood across the asphalt.

"It's okay. We're okay." Lenalee says, turning back to Miranda with a smile. "See? Everything's okay."  
"Okay, we're okay." Miranda mutters to herself before shouting. "Lenalee!"  
Lenalee turns to be face to face with an undead, tech bared.

She shrieked a little before swinging her knife at the corpse, slicing into it's soft skull.

"Let's go!" Once the zombie fell, Lenalee grabs Miranda's hand and runs towards down the street to Allen's house.

"In here!" Lenalee pushes the door open and rushes up the stairs, with Miranda limping behind her.

"Lenalee!" Miranda calls up to her.

Once at the top of the stairs, Miranda joins Lenalee in Allen's room. Lenalee throws her bag on her back and wraps a hoodie around her waist.

"Let's go." Lenalee starts to the stairs.  
"Lenalee?" Allen's voice calls up the stairs, echoing through the house.  
"Allen?" Lenalee calls back. "Miranda, stay here." Lenalee instructs before running down the stairs.

"Lavi and Kanda are getting their things from the hall." Allen explains once Lenalee joins him in the living room.

Allen regretted separating from Lavi and Kanda almost immediately, after being jumped by three separate zombies as he heads to his house.  
As he entered, he heard Lenalee talking to Miranda upstairs.  
"Lenalee?" Allen calls up, moving towards the living room where he'd left his pack.

"Allen?" Allen hears Lenalee come down the stairs and waits until she comes into the room.

"Lavi and Kanda are getting their things from the hall." He explains, turning to Lenalee.

"So we're really leaving." Lenalee says.  
"Yeah." Allen replies, looking sadly at the house around him.

"I'll get the weapons." He says. "Go find Lavi and Kanda." Allen steps past her before heading upstairs.  
"Allen!" Allen smiles at Miranda, who'd been looking down the stairs.  
"Krory's waiting at the hall, it's not safe here anymore." Allen explains.

"Oh." Miranda replies.

"Here." Allen says, moving into Cross' room. "You don't have a weapon, do you?"  
"No…" Miranda moves after him.

"How about this?" Allen says, holding a medium-sized gun up.  
"Oh, no, I couldn't…"  
"We're abandoning this stuff anyway. Might as well get some use out of it." Allen hands her the gun, smiling.

"There's extra ammo, too." Allen leans back into the pile before handing Miranda a few packs of bullets.  
"Thank you." Miranda says, smiling genuinely.  
"No problem." Allen smiles back, waiting a moment before closing Cross' bed.  
"We should get moving." Allen says as the two head towards the stairs.  
It takes a minute to get Miranda down the stairs, once they reach the bottom, Miranda takes a moment to rest.

"Is you arm okay Allen?" She asks as they start to move again.  
"I guess… It's healing." He replies, sending her a smile.  
The two quickly head to the hall, encountering only one undead on the way.

"Allen!" Lavi's leaning out of the doors, gun drawn.

"Lavi!" Allen waves as the two approach.

As they run inside, Lavi slams the doors shut, pushing a few chairs in front of them.  
"Everyone okay?" Lenalee asks, looking over Allen and Miranda worriedly.

"Yeah, we're fine." Allen replies, smiling at Lenalee.

"Good." She sighs.

"What now?" Krory asks, making Allen jump.  
"Krory!" Miranda exclaims.

"You two should get going. We can hold the hoard off." Lavi says, smiling confidently.

"I wish the zombies were still frozen." Krory admits.  
"Me too, but we can't count on that happening again." Lavi replies.

"Frozen?" Lenalee and Miranda ask simultaneously.  
"We'll explain later." Krory replies as Lavi says: "Tell ya later."

"Let's go." Krory says, taking Miranda's hand.  
"Good luck." Lavi says.  
The two head to the door as Allen turns to Lavi.  
"Where did they come from anyway?"  
"Huh?" Lavi replies, a confused expression on his face.

"The ones in town, they're not from the hoard and all the gates are locked. So unless there's another hole in the fence…" Allen trails off, in deep thought.

"I wouldn't know, I just hope we don't run into another hoard." Lavi replies.

"Let's get going." Kanda powers past them and heads to the door.

"Ok, you all ready?" Lavi turns to Lenalee.

"Yeah. Let's go." She replies.

"Right." Lavi shoulders his pack before following Kanda out the door with Allen and Lenalee close behind.

_

Krory should have expected this. There was no way they'd be lucky enough to _not_ run into more zombies. Luckily, they'd left the town through the north gate before the hoard had appeared behind them. Unluckily, the undead seemed to be catching up to them.

Miranda's sobs continued as the two struggled up the hill. Bodies are splattered across the ground, red blood disfiguring their faces and visible flesh. Krory kept his eyes off them, so not to accidentally recognise Daisya among them.

The road forks in front of them. Lavi had said they'd be taking the left to Hopetown, which was probably empty, so Krory and Miranda had decided to head left.

A loud bang sounds behind them, causing the two to turn. The undead all turn in unison and shuffle after the sound, back in the town.  
"That must be the distraction." Krory decides. "Let's go."  
"Y-Yeah." Miranda agrees as the two head further down the path, a large cloud of smoke rising behind them.

The explosion was much louder than Lavi would have liked. Even with his hands over his ears, the ringing kept going for a good minute afterwards. The sound had echoed a few times through the square and the burnt zombies that'd been underneath are in caked even more black and grey soot.  
"Think that did it?" Lavi asks, turning to Kanda and Lenalee who seem to be having similar problems.

"What do you think. stupid rabbit!? The whole woods probably heard that!" Kanda growls, removing his hands.

"Yeah, maybe we used too much gunpowder…" Lavi trails off thoughtfully, looking over at the ex-powder they'd found in Cross' room.  
"Come on, Allen's waiting at the gate." Lenalee says, picking up her bag.  
The three run to the gate, only to not see Allen anywhere.

"Where'd he go?" Lavi wonders aloud.

"Allen!" Lenalee calls,looking around nervously.

"Lenalee!" The three turn to see Allen running towards them out of an alley nearby.

"Where'd you-" Lavi starts only for Allen to keep running towards the gate.  
"We gotta hurry, they're coming!" Allen points to the alley way.  
The shuffling footsteps of the undead grow louder as their moans echo against the high walls.

"Shit." Lavi says, turning to run after Allen.  
"Che." Kanda and Lenalee follow through as Lavi pushes the gate closed behind them.  
"Hurry!" Allen cries, taking a spot next to Lavi to push against the thick metal.

"Almost…" Lavi says, leaning heavily on the door. "Got it!"

The door slams shut and Lavi runs over to lock it. As he locks the pad lock, the scratches of the undead can be heard against the door.

"Cool." Lavi breathes, leaning against the door.

"Let's go." Lenalee says.  
The four head up the path, avoiding stray corpses as they go.  
"You okay?" Lavi asks Allen after a minute of silent walking.  
"Yeah." Allen replies, looking up at Lavi beside him. "Do you really think we'll find Cross?"  
"'Course we will." Lavi reassures, sending Allen a wide grin. "He's a survival expert, according to you, he must be along this path somewhere, if he was headed to Hopetown, or he's there already."  
"Yeah." Allen agrees, picking up his pace. "How long until we get there?"

"An hour or so, It's not that far." Lenalee replies, still in the lead.

"I hate walking." Allen mutters, kicking stones in the path.

"Get used to it." Kanda barks, not looking back at him or Lavi.

"Hey Al." Lavi nudges Allen.  
"What?" Allen asks, pushing Lavi back.  
"I swiped these before." Lavi pulls a pair of black, gripped gloves out of his pocket.

"Gloves?" Allen asks.  
"They'd be about your size, right?" Lavi says. "I wasn't too sure but…here."  
Allen takes the gloves and experimentally slips on onto his right hand.  
"Well?" Lavi asks expectantly.

"They're a little big." Allen notes.  
"Aw, what?" Lavi groans.  
"But they're okay, I guess." Allen smirks at Lavi.

"Thanks." Lavi says sarcastically. "All my hard work…"  
Allen slips the other onto his left hand and lightly punches Lavi with it. "Thanks."

"Ha! My genus is unmatched!" Lavi exclaims happily.  
"I don't know you." Allen turns away comically, crossing his arms.  
"C'mon Al, how about we pass the time with…" Lavi looks around thoughtfully. "Hmm…"

Allen joins him, looking around them.  
"Oh! Okay. I spy with my little eye…"

_

They'd only been walking for half an hour when they found their first signs of life, or death rather.

"That looks like it hurt." Lavi comments as the four approach the fallen body on the side of the road.  
The corpse had a long, wooden stake through it's head, penetrating it's skull and passing through the head's chin. It's eye sockets are full of thick blood, and it's clothes are spattered with red. Allen couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl because it's face and body is so distorted with deep cuts and wounds.

"Ew." Allen murmurs, taking a step back.  
"Let's keep going." Kanda says, continuing down the path as Lavi critiques the body.

"Yeah." Allen agrees, following after Kanda.  
"C'mon Lavi." Lenalee says, walking after the two.

"Just a second." Lavi calls back, still looking at the body.

"Lavi-" Allen turns back, only to be cut off by Timcanpy ramming into the back of his head.  
"Isn't that-" Lenalee says, heading over to Allen, who's holding his head in one hand and Timcanpy in the other.

"Tim! What are you doing!?" Allen cries at the bird, who chirps before flying over to Lavi. "Hey, wait!"

Lavi, turns back, hearing the commotion behind him, only for Tim to run into his face.  
"What the-" Lavi almost trips backwards, trying to grab Tim.

"Stop that!" Allen calls, running over.

"What's he doing?" Lenalee says, heading back over.  
"Che." Kanda stays where he is, a few meters along the path.

Timcanpy lands on the body, jumping on it's face.  
"Tim, that's gross." Allen says, trying to grab him.  
Timcanpy chirps before flying up and landing back on the body.  
"What is it?" Allen asks, now concerned.  
"What's he doing?" Lavi asks, squinting his eyes at the bird.

"I don't-" Allen trails off, watching Tim curiously.  
The bird jumps up again and land on a small bag by the body, covered in grass and blood.

"Huh?" Allen heads over, carefully opening the bag, Tim now perched on his shoulder.  
"Where'd that bird come from anyway?" Lavi asks Lenalee.  
"No idea. Allen mentioned he comes and goes a lot."  
"Woah." Allen says, pulling something out of the bag. "Lavi! Lenalee look!"

The two head over, leaning to look at the thing Allen's holding.  
"It's a map." Lavi decides.

"There's the town! And Hopetown and…" Allen trails off.

"What's that?" Lenalee asks, pointing at a bloodied X on the map.  
"It's close by. About an hour that way." Lavi points to the left of the path, the side with the body.

"This is from Wellsborough." Allen says, still staring at the map.  
"How do you know?" Lenalee asks.  
"What's the hold up?" Kanda calls down from the path, finally heading over.  
"We found a map." Lavi explains. "Apparently this guy's from Wellsborough."  
"Then that cross could be…" Lenalee trails off.

"Where the rest of the team is." Allen finishes. "Lavi! Cross could be there!"  
"Cross is at the cross?" Lavi asks, a grin on his face.  
"Be serious!" Lenalee reprimands.  
"Right, right." Lavi says, taking another look at the map. "Want to go for it?"  
"There's a large forest that way." Lenalee points out. "It'll be dangerous."  
"We can go around, it'll take twice as long, though." Lavi decides.  
"Let's just go." Kanda says.  
"Alright. How about it Allen?" Lenalee says, looking at Allen.  
"Yeah, let's go around."

Once off the beaten path, the four were forced to wade through waist high grass, and that was on Lavi. Allen grumbled the whole way as the grass almost reached his shoulders at some points.  
Once they finally got to flat land, a spitting rain started, forcing them to the edge of the forest to stay dry. The rain quickly turned into a full-on down pour, leaving the group to search frantically for shelter.  
"There!" Lavi calls, pointing to a large, rusted shed atop a hill.  
"Let's go!" Lenalee calls, barely heard over the sound of the rain and wind.  
The four sprint to the shed, almost slipping and colliding with the rusted wall.  
Kanda pushes the door open and the four run inside, slamming the door behind them.  
"Thank god." Lavi mutters, leaning against the closed door.  
"I wouldn't thank god quite yet, kid."  
The four look up to see a middle aged man point a large rifle at Lavi's chest, flanked by two younger men.  
"Um…" Lavi tries, looking helplessly at Lenalee and Kanda.  
"Please, we just wanted to get out of the rain, we'll leave once it stops." Lenalee pleads, stepping forward.  
The man readjusts his gun to point at Lenalee as he mutters to the other men.  
"Or you can leave now." The man on the left says, pulling out a pistol.  
"We don't want trouble." Lavi reassures.  
"When isn't there trouble." Kanda mutters, once hand on his sword hilt.  
"Kanda, don't." Lenalee says, before turning to smile at the men. "We won't even move. We'll wait here, please, just for a little while."  
"That sounds fine." A woman's voice speaks from behind the men, the darkness of the shed obscuring her from the group's view.

"Cynthia." The man in the middle lowers his gun to speak to the woman, who's stepped out of the shadows.

She's dressed in a long, brown dress, cut into pieces at the bottom, revealing a pair of jeans and sneakers underneath. Her brown and grey hair's braided and tied with dried flowers.

"Fine." The man lowers his gun after a stern look from Cynthia.

"You can stay as long as you like." She reassures them.

"Thank you." Lenalee says, smiling happily at the woman.  
"I couldn't let you get shot, could I?" She replies, smiling back. " My name is Cynthia, by the way."  
"Lenalee." Lenalee replies. "This is Lavi." She gestures at Lavi, who waves sheepishly. "Kanda." Kanda crosses his arms. "And Allen."  
"Hi." Allen gives Cynthia a small wave.  
"Good to meet you all." She says, smiling. "So, where'd you kids come from?"  
"We're from Hopetown." Lenalee gestures to herself, Lavi and Kanda. "Allen's from Wellsborough."

"What's it like there?" A young man heads over.

"Uh…" Lenalee trails off, looking back at Lavi and Kanda.

"Shit." Kanda answers.  
"Oh." The man looks disappointed.

"The zombies broke through, both Hopetown and Wellsborough." Lenalee explains. "We had to make a run for it."  
"I'm sorry. There…" The man says sincerely. "Do you know if anyone else got out of Wellsborough?" The man looks at Allen pointedly.  
"We-" Lenalee starts.  
"Unless they were headed to Hopetown, no." Allen replies.  
"Huh?" The man looks confused.

"A group headed to Hopetown just before the attack." Allen explains. "We think they're still out there." Allen gestures outwards.  
"We're looking for them. Allen's godfather was part of the group." Lenalee explains.  
"Oh, my…my brother lived in Wellsborough. We weren't on the best of terms when we split up but…" The man trails off, looking down.  
"I'm Lenalee, by the way." Lenalee tries, hoping to divert the conversation.

"Yeah, I heard." The man looks up. "I'm Chris." He hold out his hand, which Lenalee shakes.

"Chris." The older man calls from the other side of the shed.  
"Coming." Chris calls back before turning to Lenalee. "Sorry, I'll see what Steven wants."

As Chris joins the men, they start conversing quietly, occasionally glancing back at the group.

"So…" Lavi starts, turning back to the other three. "I spy…"

_ 

It took about an hour for the rain to stop, which meant an hour of awkwardly standing by the door as the other four talking quietly among themselves.

"The rain's about done." Lenalee decided, pushing the door open a little.

"Are you leaving?" Cynthia asks as she and Chris walk over.  
"Wait." Steven comes over, his gun in his hand. "We're going too."

"What?" Lavi asks indignantly.

"Other survivors means supplies. Supplies that we need." Steven explains. "We're coming."  
"No way." Lavi rebuts, standing his ground.  
"Try and stop us." The other, unnamed man steps forward.  
"Frank, Steven. Stop." Chris steps in front of Lavi.  
"What?" Frank bites out, glaring at Chris.  
"We can't just-"

"We can do whatever we want." Steven jabs Chris in the chest with his gun. "Kids need to learn to listen." Steven glares at Lavi.

"We can do this peacefully." Cynthia interrupts, stepping forward.

"Nothing is peaceful anymore. We're doing things my way, and that means…" Steven points his gun at Lavi. "Everyone does what I say. And I say we're coming to get those supplies."  
"We don't even know if there will be supplies there, even if there are, there'll be people there too. Tough people." Lavi tries, staring down Steven.

"If there's nothing there, we'll help ourselves to your supplies." Steven smirks at Lavi. "Now, let's get going."

_

Lavi walks ahead, Steven's gun pressed firmly against his back. Frank has a pistol pointed at Kanda, who's sword has been confiscated by Frank.

Chris and Cynthia follow close behind with Allen and Lenalee, not daring to speak.

"How much further?" Steven asks Lavi, who's holding the map.

"Ten minutes, I'd say." Lavi replies, glancing back to Lenalee and Allen with a smile.  
"Geez." Lenalee mutters, smiling back.  
The group of eight trudge across the muddy field, dotted with patches of brown and green grasses.

"There." Lavi points ahead to a farmhouse adjacent to the field.  
"Give it here." Steven roughly grabs the map with his free hand to verify the location. "Let's go."  
He says, once he's satisfied.  
It takes a few more minutes to reach the house. The house itself isn't very big, painted white with a large picket fence around it. The red-brick roof glistens with fresh rain and the wooden porch is slick and dark.  
Steven walks up to the door and shoves the map back at Lavi. He knocks with his now free hand.

The group wait a minute before they hear footsteps beyond.  
"Hello?" Steven calls in.  
"Who is it?" A voice calls from within. Allen's eyes widen as he recognised the voice.

"Johnny?" Allen calls, startling Steven.  
"Brat-"

"You're not Johnny, I'm Johnny." Johnny replies.

"No! Johnny, it's me-" Frank puts a hand over Allen's mouth, cutting him off.  
"Me? Me who?" Johnny calls. "Hello?"  
"Open up!" Steven says, more forcefully.

Quiet muttering is heard beyond the door before it clicks open.

A short man is revealed, with round glasses and brown, curly hair. He's wearing a long, grey coat and jeans underneath. Johnny looks curiously up at Steven, before shrieking as he points his gun at him.  
"Get out of the way." Steven demands, pushing Lavi inside.


	4. Chapter 3

The group files into the house, converging into the living room and startling the three occupants.  
"Johnny!" One man calls out.  
"I'm sorry! I heard them say my name!" Johnny sobs from behind the group.  
"Who said-"  
"Shut it!" Steven says, pushing Lavi away to point his gun at the man.  
"Woah." The man says, putting his hands up. "Don't shoot."  
"I'll shoot when I damn well want to." Steven replies, cocking the gun.  
"What do you want?" The man asks, glancing around at the group.

"Your supplies'll do just fine." Steven answers.  
"Our-" The man thinks for a moment. "They're in the back."  
"Go get them." Steven commands.  
"Tapp." The man looks over to a large man in the corner. "Get this nice man some supplies."  
Tapp quickly stumbles out of the room, heading through a door in the back of the room.

"Sit." Steven commands, forcing the man to sit on the nearest couch, next to Lavi.  
"'sup?" Lavi asks the man.  
"Hey…" The man looks at Lavi curiously.

"Don't talk!" Steven demands pointing the gun at the two.  
"Gotcha'." Lavi leans back into the couch giving Steven a small smile.

Allen struggles against Frank's grip, trying to remove his hand.  
"Stop it." Frank whispers harshly, tightening his grip.  
Allen freezes and let's himself get led into the house.  
Frank stays at the back of the group, obscuring Allen's vision. Allen recognises the voices talking beyond, but he doesn't hear Cross. Allen slumps, causing Frank to readjust his stance.  
 _He_ _'_ _s not here._

Allen hears Tapp leave the room and Lavi talk to someone.  
Frank shuffles around, trying to get a better look through the narrow doorway. He passes Chris and Cynthia as he moves into the room with Steven.

"Frank, good." Steven calls him as he moves in, Allen still in his grip. "Oh, let go if him." Steven orders. "Make sure these ones don't try anything." He gestures to the group on the couches.  
Frank shrugs and drop Allen, who almost trips over.

"Allen!" The man next to Lavi stands, arm out to Allen.  
"Reever!" Allen cries, running over to the man.  
"Sit down." Steven points his gun at Allen, who takes a seat between Lavi and Reever.

The door across from the swings open and Tapp comes through holding a large rifle.  
"Heads up!" Tapp shouts, pointing the gun at a distracted Steven.  
"Shit!" Steven turns to Tapp, only for Reever to jump up and grab his gun.

"Jiji!" Along haired man with a bandana tied over his head and round glasses jumps up. Frank is startled by the man who grabs his pistol and punches him in the face.

"Haha!" Jiji laughs, tripping Franks and standing over him.  
"You thought you could take the four of us with just two of you?" Reever asks, smirking at Steven.

"Damn you." Steven growls.  
"Che." Kanda moves in, grabbing his sword off Frank and unsheathing it in front of Steven.  
Steven doesn't move, his eyes focused on the blade.  
Lavi also stands one hand on his hammer.  
"What now?" Tapp asks Reever.  
"Dunno." Reever scratches the back of his head.

"I'm very sorry." Cynthia moves forwards into the room, with Chris by her side.  
"And you are…." Reever asks.

"My name's Cynthia. Chris and I are…with this man." Cynthia explains, gesturing to Steven.  
"We can take care of them. We have before." Chris says.

"Are you sure?" Reever asks.  
"Yeah." Chris shrugs. "Oh…"  
"What?" Reever looks at Chris curiously, who'd frozen in place.

"You wouldn't have been with someone called James, would you?" Chris asks, looking hopefully at Reever.  
"James? James Jefferson?" Reever asks thoughtfully  
"Yeah! That's him." Chris replies excitedly.

"Yeah, he was…." Reever looks at Chris sadly.

"What happened?" Chris asks quietly.

"We got attacked. He…didn't make it." Reever explains. "I'm sorry."  
"Was he, left on the roadside?" Lavi interrupts.  
"Yeah, actually. How'd you know?" Reever answers.  
"We, uh, we saw him. We got this map from him." Lavi holds up the map, marked with the cross.

"Oh." Reever replies.  
"We should go." Cynthia says, taking Chris' arm.

"Yeah." Chris mutters. "Thanks."  
Steven and Frank rise and Cynthia points a small handgun at them.  
"Get moving."

_

Once the four left, Reever locks the door behind them.  
"Okay, into the living room." Reever commands.  
The group converges into the room, taking up all the space on the blue and green couches.

"So-" Reever starts.  
"Allen!" Johnny almost topples Allen over, who's, luckily, seated on one of the couches.  
"Johnny! I'm okay!" Allen reassure, laughing at Johnny, who'd sobbing hysterically.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Johnny wails.

"Come on." Reever pulls Johnny off Allen, dropping him on the adjacent couch.  
"Allen!" Johnny wails.  
Allen smiles and waves at him, hoping he calms down.  
"So, introductions." Reever says, looking over at Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda.  
"I'm Lavi." Lavi says, waving at Reever.

"My name's Lenalee." Lenalee introduces smiling at Reever and the others. "That's Kanda." She finishes, gesturing to Kanda, who's standing in the corner.

"Che."  
"My name's Reever." Reever says before gesturing to Johnny.

"This is Johnny. That's Tapp." Tapp gives the group a small salute.  
"Jiji." The long haired man waves, a large grin on his face.

"So, what's your story?" Reever turns back to Lavi and Lenalee.

As the two explain, Allen stares out the window, spotting the far-off figures of Steven, Frank, Chris and Cynthia going over a hill.  
"I see." Allen turns to see Reever nod at Lavi. "I guess it's out turn now."  
"As you probably already know, we're from Wellsborough." Reever starts.  
"We were headed to Hopetown when we got forced off-road by a zombie hoard." Tapp continues.  
"We found this place and decided to hold down the fort." Jiji finishes..  
"What about Cross? He was with you, right?" Allen interrupts, drawing the attention of the group.  
"Yeah, he was here, but…" Jiji trails off, turning to Reever.  
"He said he had to go do something." Reever explains. "He said he'd only be gone a day, but…" Reever looks at Allen sadly. "…That was three days ago. Right after we got here."

"Eh?" Allen collapses back onto the couch next to Lavi.  
"I-I'm sure he's fine though! You know Cross, always running off." Reever tries to reassure.  
"Y-yeah." Allen mumbles, not looking up.

"Uh…" Johnny tries. getting off the couch.

The group sits in silence for a moment before a gunshot echoes in the distance.  
"What the?" Lavi jumps up and head to the door, Kanda and Reever close behind.  
Allen turns to look out the window, where the others had just been.

"They're gone." Allen murmurs, just loud enough for Lenalee to hear.  
"What was that, Allen?" Lenalee asks him, following his gaze out the window.  
"They were…" Allen stares as a figure appears on the hill, running towards them.

"Who's that?" Lenalee wonders aloud.

Allen and Lenalee watch as Lavi, Reever and Kanda run out of the house, towards the figure.  
"Let's go." Allen says, jumping off the couch to chase after the three.

"Allen!" Lenalee cries, running after him.

Lavi's stomach drops once he recognises the figure as Cynthia, stumbling towards them, clothes red with blood.

"Cynthia!" Lavi calls as the two intercept. Cynthia collapses in Lavi's arms, holding her wounded stomach.  
"What happened!?" Reever asks.  
"Steven…" Cynthia trails off, eyes glassy.

"Shit." Kanda runs up the hill, back to where Cynthia came from.

"Kanda!" Lavi cries. "Here." He pushes Cynthia into Reever's arms before running after Kanda, hammer at the ready.

As the two run over the hill, they spot Frank standing over Chris, both covered in blood.

"Chris!" Lavi calls out, gaining his attention.

Steven turns to see Lavi and Kanda running at him and turns to escape.

"Get him!" Lavi calls to Kanda, who speeds ahead. Lavi continues towards Frank and Chris.  
"Stop!" Lavi hears Chris call out as Frank grabs him.  
Lavi raises his hammer and shouts at Frank, who turns to him.  
As Frank turns to Lavi, Lavi spots the gaping hole in Frank's chest, right over his heart.  
"What the!?" Lavi cries, slowing his pace.  
"He's turned! Steven-" Chris calls out, only for ex-Frank to crash into him, mouth wide.  
"No!" Lavi rushes forward, slamming his weapon into Frank's skull.  
"Chris are you-" Lavi stops short one he looks at Chris, now with an obvious, fresh wound in his next. Chris stares, wide eyed, at Lavi as he chokes for a few seconds before becoming still.  
"Shit." Lavi mutters before raising his hammer again.

Allen couldn't take his eyes off Lavi and Chris, even when Lavi raised his hammer after Chris has died. Allen knew he shouldn't watch but…

The hammer slammed down, spraying blood across the grass around them.

"Allen!" Lenalee calls from behind him, stopping short once she spots Lavi and Chris.  
"Oh god…" Lenalee says, stopping to stand next to Allen.  
"Where's-" Allen looks around and spots Cynthia to his right, lying motionless in Reever's arms.  
"Oh."  
Lavi seems to spot Allen and Lenalee and starts heading over.

"What happened?" Lenalee asks, running forward to meet him.

"Steven shot Frank and he turned." Lavi glances back to Chris' body. "But Chris before we got to him."  
Lenalee gasps, hands over her mouth.

"Where's Kanda?" Allen asks, walking over.

"He ran after Steven." Lavi explains, wiping the blood off his hammer with his hand. "He'll be back soon."

Kanda rushed after Steven's retreating form, which had just entered a small forest adjacent the fields. Kanda slows slightly as he enters the forest, brown leaves crunching under his feet as he walks. Kanda stops to listen around him. At first, he only hears birds and the wind rustling the branches above and around him. Then a loud crunching sounds in front of him, accompanied by the rustling of bushes and branches being pushed aside.  
Kanda springs into action, dodging a few trees before jumping into Steven's path, who'd just pushed aside another low hanging branch.

"Shit!" Steven swears, raising his gun.  
Kanda thrusts his sword forward to Steven's throat and knocks the gun out his grip with his free hand.  
"You-" Steven growls.  
"Che." Kanda readjusts his footing, staring grimly at Steven.  
Steven suddenly moves forwards, nicking his cheek on Kanda's sword as he draws a small pistol. Steven flails the gun widely and fires without aiming.

Kanda lets out a grunt as he pushes his blade forward and through Steven's chest.  
"Gah!" Steven cries, dropping his gun and collapsing.  
Kanda looks down at his left arm, now dripping in blood.  
"Dammit." Kanda growls, sheathing his sword to grip his wound.

Kanda barely glances at Steven's body as he picks up the pistol he dropped.  
Not looking at the corpse, Kanda points the pistol at it's head and pulls the trigger, the sound echoing through the forest. Kanda immediately drops the gun and starts heading back from where he came.

"Kanda!" Allen calls out, spotting the older teen come over the hill.  
Lenalee rushes over, immediately noticing the wound on his arm.

"What happened?" Allen asks, following Lenalee.  
"The idiot had a second gun on him." Kanda replies, teeth grinding.

"Get back to the house, we'll patch you up there." Lenalee says, leading Kanda back to the house with Allen close behind.

"Hungry?" As everyone reenters the house, Tapp holds up an armful of cans.

"Yeah, yeah, let's eat." Reever answers, heading back into the living room.

"What should we do with them?" Johnny asks, sitting next to Reever.

"We'll bury them, after we eat." Reever replies, staring at the ceiling.

"Okay." Johnny replies, watching Lavi, Kanda, Lenalee and Allen file into the room, all with varying expressions.

"Tapp's making lunch." Reever calls to them. "Well…late lunch." Reever checks his watch with a sour expression.

"What time is it?" Lenalee asks, as the four sit together on the opposite couch.

"3:30." Reever replies, nodding to the group.  
The group sit in silence, listening to Tapp opening the cans next door.  
"Soups up." Tapp calls.  
"Let's go." Reever stands, dusting stray dirt off his pants. 

The kitchen is tiled with floral patterns across the floors and walls. A round table sits in the middle, shielded by a pink checkered table cloth and surrounded by an array of mismatched chairs, including a wooden rocking chair.

"Dibs the rocker!" Jiji runs past everyone, flying into the rocking chair with a satisfied expression.

Everyone else takes a seat around the table as Tapp places the cans in front of them.  
"We only got soup, sorry." Tapp explains, dropping a pile of spoons on the table.

"That's fine. Thank you." Lenalee smiles up at Tapp, taking one of the spoons.

"So, what's your plan?" Lavi asks. "I mean, you'll run out of food eventually."  
"We're…working on it." Reever admits.  
"We were planning on waiting for Cross, but we're not sure how that's going to turn out." Jiji says

"What about you?" Reever asks.  
"We came here looking for Cross, so, I think that's what we should do." Lavi replies.  
"Well, we can help you with that." Reever replies.  
"Really? I though he'd just gone off on his own." Lenalee wonders.

"Yeah, but he left us a few things." Reever explains. "I can show you later."  
"Thanks." Lavi replies.

_

It took an hour or so for Lavi, Kanda, Reever and Tapp to bury the bodies. Cynthia and Chris had been given side-by-side graves, while Steven and Frank's had been burnt.

By the time everything had been done, the sun had begun to dye the sky a deep orange.  
Allen, Lenalee, Johnny and Jiji had shared stories around the kitchen table where they'd been left. Lenalee told them of her adventures with her older brother and how'd they'd started out surviving. Johnny and Jiji told how they'd ended up in Wellsborough, even though Allen had heard the tales before. While Allen didn't have many stories to tell, he listened intently to the retellings of old ones and the details of new ones. Jiji had a habit of changing stories whenever he told them, dramatising and exaggerating parts until they were almost unrecognisable.

Lavi and mentioned to Allen, before he'd gone off the bury Cynthia and Chris, that they'd talk about his bites that evening, so not to retell the story too everyone individually. They'd left that part out of their story before, as well as the elusive girl called Road.

"We're done!" Reever calls out from the doorway as footsteps can be heard entering the house.

"C'mon." Jiji says, standing to meet them in the living room.  
As they hear the door slam shut, they file into the living room. Lavi and Reever are standing in the hallway, dusting a considerable amount of dirt off themselves, trying to avoid dirtying the couches or carpet.

"So, ready to talk?" Reever says, walking into the room now that's he's cleaned off his clothes.

"Just a minute." Lavi calls from the hallway, obviously still trying to dust off.

"Talk about what?" Johnny asks.  
"Lavi said there was something they needed to tell us." Reever explains, looking over to Lenalee, Allen and Kanda who's just filed into the room.

"Oh, yeah." Lenalee verifies, taking a seat on the nearest couch.  
Everyone else follows her example, sitting or leaning on the two couches as they wait for Lavi.  
"Okay." Lavi grins, walking into the room.  
"So, what's going on?" Tapp asks, standing behind the green couch holding Reever and Johnny.

"It's well, a long story." Lavi tries, moving to stand next to Lenalee.  
"Okay, how does it start?" Reever asks, leaning forward.  
"Well, I guess it started with Allen." Lavi replies, looking at Allen. "Wanna explain, Al?"  
Allen nods, looking up at the gathered group.  
"When Wellsborough got…attacked," Allen explains, looking at his feet. "The zombies got everyone, in-including me." Allen mutters the last part, but everyone in the room still hears it.  
"What!?" Johnny exclaims, jumping up.

"What do you mean?" Reever asks.  
"When they came through, three of them got into my house and…" Allen trails off, his right hand gripping his left arm.  
"Allen, it's okay." Lenalee reassures him, putting her hand on his back.  
"I've got three bites, here." Allen continues, rubbing his arm. "I thought I was done for…but nothing happened." Allen looks up at Johnny, Reever, Tapp and Jiji in front of him, all wide eyed.  
"You're saying, you didn't turn?" Jiji asks.  
Allen nods, looking at Reever.  
"Are you sure you were bit?" Reever asks, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Mmhmm." Allen murmurs, nodding again.  
"Shit." Reever mutters. "This doesn't make any sense."  
"It get's better. Worse. Whatever." Lavi supplies, regaining the group's attention.  
"Huh?" Jiji rubs his head with his hand, eyebrows furrowed.  
"There was this girl, called herself 'Road', who could _control_ the zombies." Lavi explains.  
"What?" Johnny says quietly staring up at Lavi.  
"She attacked us and could get individual zombies to do what she wanted. They grabbed us, but didn't try to bite us until she said so." Lavi continues. "She's dangerous, real dangerous. We barely survived and we were only against her and three undead. She also got Allen pretty bad."

"Allen?" Reever wonders, looking at the boy.  
Allen points to his covered left eye.  
"She likes stabbing."

"Eugh." Jiji makes a wrenching sound, sticking his tongue out.

"Is that all?" Reever asks, looking almost hopeful.  
"You wish." Kanda mutters, loud enough for Lenalee and Allen to hear.

"There's something going on with the zombies too." Lenalee says. "The one's from Wellsborough, they weren't reanimated right away."  
"What do you mean?" Reever asks.  
"We were half way through burning them when they decided to take a stroll, almost burnt the town down." Lavi finishes.

"That's weird." Jiji says, running a hand over his stubble. "How long do you reckon they were 'dead' for?" Jiji added quotation marks when he said 'dead'.  
"A few hours? No, it was almost a day I think. If Wellsborough was attacked late at night then…yeah. 24 hours." Lavi says thoughtfully.  
"Hmm…I don't like this." Reever mutters, leaning back into the couch.

"What should we do?" Johnny asks him, obvious worry in his voice.

"Right now there's nothing we can do. We don't know enough, we'll just have to be wary."  
"Frank was only dead for seconds before he came back." Allen supplies, suddenly remembering the man.  
"Yeah, maybe only specific ones take a while to reanimate." Tapp adds.  
"Well, we have a lot to think about, but first." Reever looks up at Lavi. "I promised you a few things."

_ 

Reever took only a minute to retrieve the box of Cross' things. It was only the size of a shoe box, made of a light wood and stained with patches of dark red and black. There were visible dents and scratches along the sides and on the lid.

"What's inside?" Lavi asks as Reever comes through the door.

"You'll see." Reever replies, sitting back in his place next to Johnny. He sets the box on his lap before pulling the lid off.

Inside, there is a stack of papers and a small package wrapped in green paper.

"What are those?" Lavi asks, moving forward to get a better look.

"As far as I can tell? Receipts, bills, and sheet music. I'm not sure about the package though."  
"You didn't open it?" Lavi asks, curiously.  
"No, couldn't build up the courage." Reever admits, shaking his head.

"I'd rather not delve into Cross' personal life." Jiji adds.  
"He can't be that bad." Lenalee insists.  
"Just wait 'till you meet him." Jiji sends her a smirk. "He's _that_ bad."

"Really? What do you think, Allen?" Lenalee turns to Allen.  
"Eh, well…" Allen rubs the back of his head, smiling sheepishly before looking up at Lenalee seriously. "He's the worst."  
"Eh?" Lenalee exclaims.  
"I mean, he can be nice, but he's very…uh…" Allen looks over to Jiji and Reever for help.  
"Dirty? Salacious? Corrupt? Exploitive? Obscene?" Jiji tries, glancing over at Reever.  
"Any of those'll fit. Anyway, I guess we should open it." Reever says. "Who want's to do it?" Reever looks around at his comrades who avoid his gaze.

"How about it Al?" Lavi pats Allen on the back, pushing him forward a little.

"Me?" Allen asks loudly, turning to look at Lavi.

"Do you want to?" Reever asks him, holding out the box.

"I guess…" Allen says, sending Lavi a quick glare.  
"Here." Reever takes out the package and hands it to Allen, who takes it gingerly.

Allen stares at it for a second before pulling off the green paper.  
"Ah!" Allen turns to see Lavi swatting at the air.  
"What's wrong?" Lenalee asks, standing.  
"It's that bird! I swear it's out to kill me!" Lavi asserts, looking helplessly at Lenalee and Allen.  
"Bird? Tim?" Allen wonders, looking around the darkening room.  
"Bird? What bird?" Reever asks, looking around the room with everyone else.  
"My bird, Timcanpy…" Allen replies, trailing off.  
"Ow!" Lavi almost trips as a flash of gold collides with his forehead.

"Timcanpy!" Allen quickly replaces the already displaced wrapping and places the package beside him to jump up.  
"Get back here!" Allen cries, reaching over to grab Timcanpy off Lavi's face.

"Yuu! Help me!" Lavi grabs onto Kanda's arm, causing the older teen to growl and draw his sword.  
"Don't-"  
"Stop that!" Lenalee cries, pulling Lavi off Kanda.  
"What's going on?" Allen hears Reever mutter, watching the scene unfold.  
"I'm sorry! Tim just does whatever he wants." Allen explains hurriedly, trying to keep Timcanpy trapped in his hands.  
"Ah, right." Reever replies, collecting himself.  
"Tim! Stay here." Allen drops Timcanpy onto the couch next to him, right by the package. Tim, obviously noticing it, starts grabbing at the wrapping with his beak.  
"Stop!" Allen pulls the package away from him and onto his lap.  
"Let's get back on track." Reever tries, watching Lavi move to the other side of the couch, away from Kanda who's glowering in the corner.  
Allen finally pulls away the wrapping, placing the green paper beside him. Timcanpy grabs the wrapping jumping into the pile, like a nest.  
"It's…a key?" Allen says, picking up the golden key.  
"What?" Lavi leans over, looking curiously at the key."Where do you think it goes?"

"Dunno. We didn't have locks in Wellsborough." Allen says, examining the key. "It looks new."  
"What do you mean?" Johnny walks over, looking at the key.  
"It's all shiny and smooth." Allen explains, holding the key up for Johnny and Lavi to see.  
"He's right. It's probably never been used before." Johnny says.

"Why's it here?" Allen ponders, turning the key in his fingers.  
"I think you should hang on to it, if you're going after Cross." Reever says, leaning back.

"Okay." Allen replies, still staring at the key.

"Wait a second…" Reever rummages through his pockets before pulling out a long piece of string.  
"You can put it on this, so you don't lose it.

"Thanks." Allen takes the string and threads it through a small hole in the key. He ties the ends of the string together and pulls it over his head with a little difficulty.

"Perfect." The key falls onto Allen's chest, over his t-shirt.

"What about the other stuff?" Lavi asks, pointing to the box.

"I'm not sure why he left it, but you can take a look." Reever hands the box over, slightly disturbing the papers inside.

Lavi takes the box, picking up the top sheet of paper.

"It's dated for 36 years ago." Lavi notes. "Apparently Cross bought 5 packets of cigarettes."  
"Most of them are the same." Reever says, gesturing to the box.

"4 packets. 3 packets and a magazine. 5 packets." Lavi files through the sheets before stopping. "What's this?" Lavi raises one of the sheets, emblazoned with a musical score.

"Can I see?" Allen reaches over, taking the sheet of Lavi.

"It looks complicated." Lenalee says, looking over Allen's shoulder.

"Not really." Allen mutters, scanning the notes. "I could probably…"  
"You can play the…" Lavi looks over for the instrument.  
"Piano." Allen finishes, smiling up at Lavi.  
"Cross teach you?" Lavi asks.  
"Yeah, but I taught myself mostly."  
"I didn't see a piano at your house." Lenalee comments.  
"There was one in a warehouse, so everyone could use it. But I think I was the only one." Allen explains.  
"You should've shown us." Lavi says, rummaging through the box. "Hey, there's more."  
Allen takes the music sheets, about ten in total.  
"They're all the same." Allen suddenly says.  
"Huh?" Lavi looks over. "No they're not." He points at a few of the notes. "This part's different."  
"They look kinda different, but they'll all sound almost identical. They've just got different speeds, notation and key signatures." Allen tries to explain.  
"I don't get it." Lavi mutters, turning back to the box.  
"It's not _that_ hard." Allen mutters, turning back to the music.

Lavi looks looks though the papers for another minute before Allen starts humming.  
Lenalee closes her eyes, listening to Allen.  
"It's lovely." She mutters.

Allen doesn't reply, only increasing his volume a little.

"I didn't know you could hum piano music." Lavi remarks.  
"You can't." Allen stops to reply. "It's just the melody. It's sound better with an actual piano."  
"I see." Lavi looks away.  
"Can I see?" Lenalee moves over to Lavi.  
"Sure." Lavi hands her some of the papers inside.  
"These are all really old." Lenalee says, going through them.  
"Yeah, all around a year before." Reever says.  
"Before? Oh, right." Lenalee says, turning back to the sheets in her hands.  
"It's got to be a clue." Lavi murmurs, flicking through the sheets with a renewed fire.

"We've stared at those sheets for days and we couldn't find anything." Jiji says.  
"Jeez." Lavi puts the sheets back in the box. Lenalee places hers inside and closes the lid.  
"We'll try again tomorrow. It's getting late." Reever says, standing.  
"You guys can sleep in here. There's no room upstairs." Tapp explains.  
"Sure, thanks." Lavi says with an exhausted expression. "That'd be great."

_

The four ended up falling asleep on the couches before Reever and the others could supply them with blankets. In hindsight, it may not have been the soundest decision to make.  
"Uggghhh…" Lavi groans, rolling face first off the couch.  
"Shut up." Kanda growls, getting up from his seated position on the couch.

"Ow, my neck hurts…" Allen complains, stretching as he stands.  
"It'll pass." Lenalee reassures, stretching her arms.  
"You guys awake?" Jiji's voice calls from the hallway.  
"Yeah! We're up." Lavi calls back as he gets up off the floor.

"I'm not." Allen declares, collapsing back onto the couch.  
"C'mon, I'm starving." Lavi says, pulling Allen off the couch.

"Tch." Kanda powers out of the room, his expression darkening by the minute.

It only took a few minutes to set up breakfast. Tapp and Lavi had combined their efforts to speed up the process, most likely because Allen could hear both their stomachs rumbling the whole time.  
Breakfast was more canned food, beans and fruit this time. Everyone had silently agreed to avoid talking in favour of eating as fast as possible.

By the time everyone was done, the sky outside has brightened, casting warm light into the farmhouse.

"So, what's the plan?" Reever asks, leaning back in his chair.  
"I guess we should have another look at those papers, to see if we can figure out where Cross was headed." Lavi replies, leaning forward to lean on the table.

"Jiji, can you-" Reever starts.

"Got 'em!" Jiji leans under the table and produces the box.

"Oh. Here." Reever says, passing the box over to Lavi.

"I'm always prepared!" Jiji declares, rocking back and forward in the rocking chair.  
"Thanks." Lavi says, opening the box.

_

About an hour later, they'd still made no progress with the papers.

"This is impossible!" Lavi cries, slamming his head onto the table, scattering papers.

"Come on, Lavi, there has to be something." Lenalee assures.

"Uggghhh…" Lavi groans.  
"There must be something we're missing." Jiji says, filing through some sheets.

"But what could it be?" Johnny asks, scratching his head.

"Hmmm…" Allen was re-examining the music sheets, laying them all out in front of him.

Tim had perched on his shoulder, chirping whenever Allen moved.

"How many sheets are there?" Allen asks.  
"How many? Let me check." Reever says. "Count how many you have of each."

The group start filing through the sheets, counting. They soon pass their totals to Reever who starts adding them up.

"453 receipts, 102 bills and…"  
"12 sheets of music." Allen supplies.  
"That's 567." Reever finishes.

"567…" Lavi echoes, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling.  
 _five, six, seven._

 _wait_ _…_

"Wait a minute." Allen mutters, grabbing the closest receipt.

"What is it?" Lenalee asks, looking over.  
"These receipts are all from the same place, right?"  
"Yeah." Reever replies.  
"18 Shelmore street, Carpeville, Vearmont." Allen reads. "Were there any other receipts? Like, ones Cross didn't keep in the box?"

"Others? There might've been…" Jiji answers.  
"What do you mean?" Lavi asks.  
"On the first night, we started a fire to burn the undead bodies we'd encountered." Jiji explains. "Cross was the one to start it, I'm almost certain that the fire was burning paper before we added the bodies.

"So he burnt the excess ones." Allen says.

"Yeah, I guess. So he wanted us to have 567 of these." Jiji replies.

"But why?" Tapp asks.  
"Cross used to tell me stories about before." Allen says. "He always said that he and his best friends, used to live in houses 5, 6 and 7."  
"You think that's what he meant?" Johnny asks, looking at the papers curiously.  
"I think so. Also, the shop these are all from…" Allen points to the receipts. "Is on the same street, I think."  
"And the bills?" Jiji prompts. "Why are they here?"  
"There's 102, right?" Allen asks.  
"Yeah." Reever responds.

"102 is the number outside our house in Wellsborough." Allen says. "But I'm not sure if that's it…"

"It sounds about right. If Cross is directing us to his old home, then he'd reference his current one." Lavi tries.

"Probably." Allen says. "Cross, while he tries not to show it, isn't actually that…smart…"  
"What do you mean by that?" Lavi asks.  
"I…I mean, he probably guessed you guys," Allen gestures to Reever, Johnny, Tapp and Jiji. "Wouldn't count the papers because you'd try to find something smart, like a hidden clue."  
"Fair enough." Jiji says, leaning back in his chair.  
"And you wouldn't know about his old house, but that means…" Allen trails off.  
"Wait, if it does mean his old house, then… Wouldn't Allen be the only one who would get the clue?" Lenalee wonders.  
"I suppose so, but that doesn't make any sense." Reever replies.  
"What makes you say that?" Lavi asks him.  
"No offence, but how would he know you'd make it this far? I mean, that would mean he would've known you couldn't…"  
"He knew." Allen interrupts, eyes wide. "He _knew_ I wouldn't become one of them."  
"We-We can't jump to conclusions here!" Johnny says frantically. "We're not sure that he knew."  
"He must've, he must've known." Allen whispers, hands clenched into fists.  
"Well, right now, that doesn't matter." Lavi declares. "What matters is this is the closest we've gotten to a clue and we need to follow it."  
"He's right, you can go interrogate him once you find him." Reever agrees.

"Al?" Lavi tries, looking down at Allen.  
"Yeah, I'll interrogate him alright." Allen says, giving Lavi a small smile.  
"That's not something you should smile about." Lavi says.  
"Of course it is." Allen's smile widens,  
"Al, you're scaring me."  
"I know."  
"Lenalee! Allen's turned to the dark side!" Lavi cries, grabbing Lenalee's arm.  
"Jeez." Lenalee says, prying Lavi off.  
"Are you sure you're okay, Allen?" Johnny asks, a worried expression on his face.  
"Ah, yeah. I'm okay. Just got a lot to think about."  
"You'll have plenty of time to think on your way." Reever says. "Vearmont is a three days drive from here. It'll take over a week to walk there."  
"Over a week?" Allen squeaks.  
"That's gonna hurt." Lavi mutters, sitting up straight in his chair.  
"But I never said you were walking it." Reever says, a smirk on his face.

_

"We found them the day after we arrived." Reever pushes open the garage door, revealing a rusty blue car.

"Them?" Lavi asks, heading over to the car.  
"There was another, but Cross grabbed it. A bright green ute, if I recall."  
"Does it work?" Lavi asks sceptically, eyeing the corroded metal suspiciously.  
"Yeah, we tried it out already." Reever replies. "We just need to top off the gas."  
"Is there some here?" Lavi asks, looking around.  
"There's a few bottles in the shed, we'll bring them over." Reever says before turning to leave. He takes a few steps before turning back around.  
"Lavi?"  
"Yeah?" Lavi looks away from the car to answer.  
"I'll get the others to head down too, so you can get going faster." Reever says as he restarts his walking.  
"Thanks." Lavi replies, smiling, before turning back to the rusted car.

"You're clear to bring the stuff down." Reever calls from the hallway.  
"Oh, thanks!" Lenalee calls back as the door slams shut.  
"I'm not sure we can carry all this." Allen comments, stacking the food cans into his arms.  
Lenalee, Allen, Johnny and Tapp are standing around the kitchen table, where Tapp has laid out all the food they could spare for the trip.  
"I'm still not sure we need all of this." Lenalee mutters, throwing some cans into her bag.  
"It seems like a lot, but you'll go through it faster than you'd think." Tapp explains, collecting another share of cans.

"We might need to take a few trips." Johnny remarks as he struggles to balance a towering stack of cans in his arms.

"We just need some extra hands." Tapp says before turning to the door.  
"Jiji! Lend us a hand!" He calls, resulting in a frantic rustling next door.  
"Coming!" Jiji calls before jogging into the room. "Gotcha'" Jiji mutters, scooping up a pile of cans.

"There's still some left." Allen points out.

"Maybe Kanda can grab them." Lenalee says.  
"I-I think we're fine, I could-" Allen starts before Lenalee shouts.  
"Kanda!?"

Kanda, who had been brooding in the adjacent room, plodded into the kitchen.  
"What?" He growls, glaring at the assorted group with armfuls of cans.  
"Could you grab the last cans Kanda?" Lenalee replies, smiling sweetly.  
"You don't need my help for this." Kanda says, turning away from the table.  
"Kanda…" Lenalee trails off, staring at Kanda's back.  
"I don't think he can do it Lenalee, he's too socially inept to even be close to more than one person." Allen says, a small smirk on his face.  
"What was that, beansprout?" Kanda spits, turning back to look at him.  
"Was I not clear enough? Or do you need your ears checked? I think you're going deaf." Allen casually replies, smirking pointedly at Kanda.  
"Why you-" Kanda takes a step towards Allen, who's smile isn't wavering.  
"Kanda, just grab the cans so we can go." Lenalee orders, her tone sharp.  
"Che." Kanda grabs the three remaining cans before powering out of the room.  
"Looks like you're good for something after all." Allen calls after him, following close behind.  
"Let's just go." Lenalee says, heading after the two.  
"Uh, okay." Jiji replies, heading after her.  
"Since when were they so hostile?" Johnny asks Tapp as the two leave the room.  
"Dunno."

_

"Allen, you shouldn't be so rude to Kanda." Lenalee reprimands, now that Kanda's moved a good ways ahead.

"It's not my fault he's so broody." Allen says. staring after Kanda  
"That's not a reason." Lenalee replies.  
"He's just so…ugh, I don't know…infuriating. He just ticks me off. And he's mean to Tim." Allen turns to Lenalee, as the bird in question flies up to sit on his head.

"It's just how he is." Lenalee says, smiling down at Allen before looking forward again.

"I guess." Allen mutters as Timcanpy chirps in protest.

As the two head to the garage, they spot Lavi tinkering with an odd blue car, covered in rust and grime.

"Ew." Allen says as they approach.  
"It's not that bad." Lenalee assures him, yet she eyes the vehicle suspiciously.  
"It doesn't look like it'd work." Allen comments, dropping the cans onto the floor.  
"It works fine." Lavi answers, finally pulling his head out of the car's trunk. "There's plenty of space too."  
Allen and Lenalee move over to Lavi to look in.  
"That's good. I was worried we wouldn't be able to fit anything else besides these cans." Lenalee says, smiling at the large space.  
"Speaking of, where'd Kanda go?" Allen wonders, looking around the garage.  
"He ran off in a hurry, after he dropped those cans on my head." Lavi explains, pointing to three cans by his feet.

"Rude." Allen mutters, glaring at the cans.

'Whatever, let's start packing them in." Lavi says, scooping up Kanda's cans and placing them at the back of the trunk.  
"We're here!" Johnny's voice sounds from the garage doors, accompanied by Tapp and Jiji.  
"Cool! Bring them over here." Lavi calls back, standing straight to look over the car at the three.

"Got it." Jiji says as the three head over to drop the cans on a nearby table.  
"That's a lot of cans." Lavi mutters, surveying the heaps of cans on the table and floor.

"That's what I said, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry." Lenalee says, picking up two of the cans to place in the trunk.

_

It took a little while to load up all the cans, luckily the trunk was spacious and there was plenty of room left.

"What else do we need?" Allen asks, once the cans had all been packed.  
"There's some clothes back at the house, clean ones, and they're too small for us." Tapp says.  
"We've also got extra camping and medical supplies if you want them." Johnny adds.  
"That'd be great, thanks." Lenalee replies, smiling brightly at Johnny.

"Great! I'll go get them." Johnny rushes off, a faint blush lining his cheeks.

"What now?" Allen asks, turning to Lavi and Lenalee.

"I suppose we should gather our packs from the house and pick up anything extra." Lavi replies.  
"Me and Allen can go get everything." Lenalee volunteers. "Lavi, maybe you could go track down Kanda for us."

"Sure! I'll track Yuu down, he's probably pouting in a shadowy corner somewhere." Lavi agrees.

Allen and Lenalee head out the front of the garage while Lavi leaves through a rusted back door, which groans loudly as it opens.

_

As the two reentered the house, they almost collided with Johnny, who'd been carrying a stack of supplies. Allen leans against the nearby wall trying not to fall over as Timcanpy circles his head.  
"What's all that?" Lenalee asks, once they'd regained their bearings.

"Tents, sheets, sleeping bags….uh, matches and fire starters…" Johnny rummages through the pile in his arms.  
"That's a lot of stuff." Allen comments, eyeing the pile warily.  
"Yeah, no one here's going to use it so it should be put to good use." Johnny explains. "Reever was grabbing the spare medical supplies too."  
"We were just grabbing our packs to put in the car." Lenalee says. "We can take some of that stuff too."  
"Oh, that'd be good." Johnny heartily agrees as Lenalee grabs a bag of tent poles out of Johnny's arms.  
"Allen, grab something too." Lenalee says.  
"Uh, sure." Allen slowly confronts the precarious pile, quickly swiping a bundle of blankets tied with string.  
"That's better, thanks." Johnny says as he readjusts his hold on the supplies.  
"You should hurry to put that down, I think Tapp's still down there." Lenalee says.  
"Is he? Thanks." Johnny replies as he heads off the porch and onto the grass.  
"C'mon Allen, let's grab out stuff." Lenalee says, smiling as Johnny wobbles away.

_

The two quickly grabs their packs from the living room, also grabbing Lavi and Kanda's as they pass.

"If you're heading back to the car, you should take this." Jiji's voice sounds from the corridor.

The two turn to see him holding up a moderately sized, bright blue bag.  
"What's in it?" Allen asks, heading over with his and Lavi's packs on his back.

"Just some spare clothes and the like. We found them when we arrived. They don't fit us and probably won't fit Lavi or Kanda, but they'll likely fit you two." Jiji explains, handing the bag to Allen.

"Thanks." Lenalee says brightly. "Here, Allen. I'll take Lavi's bag so you can hold that one." Lenalee leans over to take the bag off Allen.

"Thanks." Allen says, smiling up at Lenalee and then to Jiji.  
"Reever said he'd bring down the medical stuff in a minute, so you can go on ahead." Jiji informs.

"Okay, thanks again." Lenalee replies as she and Allen head to the door.  
"Oh, by the way." Jiji calls back, causing the two to look over.  
"I forgot to say before, but last night when I was on watch, I saw a hoard moving north from here to the east. They didn't come anywhere near here and we're heading this way, but you might hit them on your way out."

"Thanks, we'll try to be careful." Lenalee replies.

Allen and Lenalee then head back out of the house, a strong wind whipping their clothes and hair around. Tim, spurred by the wind flies into the sky above, circling around to land on the roof.

"Tim!" Allen calls to the bird. "Come down!"  
Tim chirps at him, almost grinning from his spot above his head.  
"He'll come own later, let's get going." Lenalee reassures, giving the troublesome bird a little wave.

"Urg, okay." Allen groans, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Let's get back under cover quickly." Lenalee says, holding her hair back from her face. "Maybe I can find a hair tie somewhere too…"

_

Lavi was able to find Kanda relatively quickly, he's been stalking around the forest's edge with his sword drawn.  
"Yuu! Whatcha doin' buddy?" Lavi calls, waving as he runs towards the teen.

Kanda glances over towards Lavi and scowls before quickening his pace.

"Hey! Wait up!" Lavi calls again as Kanda disappears into the forest.

Under the trees it was dark, only specks of sunlight breaching the thick canopy above.

"Yuu?" Lavi calls, looking around him. "Where'd you go?"

The trees around Lavi all looked the same. Smooth, pale bark on the thick trunks holding the weight of millions of dark leaves above him. The brown leaves across the ground crunch underneath his feet, almost echoing in the silence.

"Yuu? Kanda?" Lavi calls again, beginning to feel distressed.

"Shut up." Kanda's voice growls behind him.  
Lavi spins around, a make-shift grin already plastered on his face.  
"Yo."  
"Idiot, let's just go." Kanda scowls as he prowls past Lavi.  
"You do know where you're going, right Yuu?" Lavi asks, struggling to walk next to Kanda.

"Che." Kanda speeds up, pushing past a mesh of spiny bushes.  
"Ow!" Lavi cries. He'd tried to grab the bushes, only for the spines to jab his finger.

"Hurry up!" Kanda snarls as he makes his way out of the tree line.  
"Coming!" Lavi calls back, attempting to step carefully over the bushes only to trip.  
"Ouch." Lavi lands on his face, his right leg trapped in the bush. He turns to untangle himself only to be see a decaying hand tightly gripping his leg.

"Get off!" Lavi cries, kicking the hand with his free foot.  
"Oi, rabbit! What's taking so long?" Kanda turns back around to see Lavi struggling with the bush.

"What are you doing?" Kanda quickly makes his way over, only for Lavi to lunge back, revealing a legless undead crawling towards him.  
"Shit!" Lavi grabs his hammer out of it's holster and brandishes it at the undead.

"Idiot! Just kill it!" Kanda shouts, standing a few meters away.

"And let it grab me? No thanks!" Lavi calls back as he tries to stand up.  
"Dammit." Kanda mutters as he walks over.

"Gotcha!" Lavi, who's managed to get off the ground, points his pistol at the zombie's head.

"Kill it!" Kanda shouts, stopping in this tracks.  
Lavi flashes Kanda a quick grin before aiming the gun and pulling the trigger.

The band echoes across the farm as the zombie goes rigid, thick, dark blood pouring from the gaping wound in it's brain.

"Gross." Lavi comments and he puts his weapon away.  
"Let's just go." Kanda says, heading away from Lavi.

"Hey, wait up!" Lavi calls after him as he starts walking himself.

_

The undead's body twitched slightly, first in it's fingers and then it's arms and face. It lets out an unholy groan as it pushes it's head upwards. The blood runs down it's face and shattered bone protrudes unnaturally from the top of it's skull around the gaping hole.

It seems unaffected, almost stunned by the shot, but nothing else. The remains of it's brain collapse out of the rotted skull, and the undead simply starts crawling. The grey organ lies half destroyed by the bushes, surrounded by dark, clotted blood as the zombie crawls towards the house, leaving a dark red, almost black, trail of rotted blood and innards behind it.

"Lavi! Kanda!" Allen calls towards the two outside the garage door.

"Hey! You get all the bags?" Lavi calls back as the two approach.

"Yeah, we even got some extra clothes for me and Allen." Lenalee answers as Allen holds up the bag.

"Great." Lavi smiles.  
Allen drops the bag before noticing the unfamiliar blood smears on Lavi's pants.

"What's that?" Allen points to the new marks.  
"Oh, we found half a zombie in the forest." Lavi explains, grinning.  
"Half?" Lenalee asks.

"Yeah. Had it's legs and half it's gut's gone. It was just a head, chest and arms."  
"Ew." Allen scrunches his nose.  
"You should've seen it. It was all rotten, with thick blood pouring out if it's-"

"Lavi!" Lenalee interrupts him as Allen face sours.  
"Gross." Allen scowls, glaring at Lavi.

"What? You asked." Lavi defends.

"Come on, let's pack up." Lenalee intervenes, pulling Lavi over to the car.

Lavi smiles playfully back at Allen before helping Lenalee throw the packs into the trunk.

"Allen, bring that bag over please." Lenalee asks, once the packs are secured.  
"Here." Allen hands the bag to her, giving Lavi a half-hearted glare.  
"If you keep glaring, you'll end up looking like Yuu over here." Lavi warns, gesturing towards the older male, still at the garage's entrance.

"Don't push it." Kanda growls, his hand moving to rest on his sword.

"Gotcha'." Lavi winks at Kanda before grinning at Allen and Lenalee.

"What's next?" Allen asks as Lavi shuts the trunk.  
"Reever'll come down with the supplies in a bit, but I'm not sure what else we'll need." Lenalee answers.

"I didn't see Johnny's camping things in the trunk, did you move them?" Lenalee asks Lavi, who looks confused.

"Johnny? I haven't seen him." Lavi replies.

"What? He left the house just a few minutes before we did." Lenalee says worriedly.  
"Maybe he forgot something." Allen wonders, looking at the hills past the garage door.  
"We can go look for him." Lavi volunteers. "Lena-lady and Yuu can hold down the fort."  
"Alright." Lenalee agrees.

"You up for it, Al?" Lavi asks Allen.

"Yeah!" Allen replies enthusiastically, immediately heading for the exit.  
As Lavi passes Kanda, he snarls. "Don't call me that."

"Gotcha'." Lavi gives him a small salute before heading after Allen onto the nearest hill.  
"Let's check the house first." Lavi says, heading in that direction.

"Coming!" Allen runs down the hill after him.

_

When they arrived at the house, it was deadly silent.  
"Where do you think he'd be?" Lavi asks, sticking his head into the living room.

"Maybe he's upstairs." Allen proposes before heading in that direction.

"I'll look around here a bit more." Lavi says, heading into the kitchen.

The stair creak loudly under Allen's feet as he moves into the upstairs.

"Johnny?" Allen calls, looking around at the open space.

The upstairs was mostly empty, with only a small area walled off in the far corner. Sleeping bags and blankets lay strewn on the floor, accompanied by stacks of clothes and backpacks.

"Are you in here?" Allen tries again, a little louder.

As he looks around the room, he hears a familiar chirping.

"Tim?" Allen steps further into the room, before noticing the golden bird perched on a chest of drawers.

"Tim, how'd you get in here?" Allen asks, reaching his hand out to him.

Time chirps before swooping forwards to sit on Allen's arm.

"Allen? Find him?" Lavi calls from downstairs.

"I don't think he's up here!" Allen calls back.

"Here Tim." Allen let's Timcanpy fly into his jacket pocket where he wriggles for a moment before going still. "Let's go."

After taking one last look at the messy room, Allen heads down stairs.

Allen didn't see Lavi when he came downstairs, so he moves into the living room. He spots Lavi with his head out of an open window, looking around curiously.

"What are you looking at?" Allen asks him, once he had moved into the room behind him.

"Huh?" Lavi leans back to look at Allen. "Just looking around."  
"Did you see anything?" Allen asks as he head over to the window to have a look around.

"Nah, I didn't see Johnny. Or Reever. Or Jiji or Tapp either." Lavi answers as Allen pulls away from the window.  
"I wonder where they all went. They were here just a minute ago." Allen wonders.  
"We'll just have to keep looking." Lavi says, grinning widely.  
"Yeah. Where should we check next then?" Allen asks.  
"Hmm… We can check around the grass out front and the hills out back." Lavi proposes.  
"Sounds good." Allen says.  
As the two head towards the door, they hear a scratching sound.  
"What's that?" Allen asks, looking around them.  
"Where is it coming from?" Lavi asks, peering around the corridor and rooms.  
"There." Allen points to the closed door, where the scratching is coming from. The door's window, obscured by a white curtain, bleeds white light, unobscured by a shadow of a person.  
"It's not Johnny then." Lavi mutters, heading towards the door with his hammer drawn.

Allen stays back, a few meters behind Lavi as he reaches the door.

Lavi rests his hand on the handle, sending Allen a quick glance before throwing the door open.

_

Johnny's breath was ragged as he ran through the forest.

He'd dropped the supplies a while back, so to get away faster.

The forest is dark, barely any light breaking the layer of leaves above him. Only small flecks of light reach him, blinding his eyes or illuminating the forest floor.

A low growling sounds to Johnny's right. Causing him to freeze in his tracks.

Another growl starts behind him as the bushes nearby start to shiver.

"Johnny!" A faint cry sounds directly ahead. Fortunately, away from the growling around him.  
"Johnny!?" The cry sounds again as Johnny starts running again, towards the voice.

Johnny struggles to see far in front of him as he tries to locate the sound of the voice. Tree roots around him start growing thicker and the dry bushes begin to disperse. Johnny speeds up, jumping and stumbling over the tree roots while trying not to slip on the damp leaves under him. As he jumps over a particularly large root, he slams into an unknown figure that knocks him to the ground. 

"We should check the forest next." Lavi says, one hand over his eye as he scans the hills around them.

Lavi and Allen are currently standing atop the highest hill, being an inch or so higher than the fields had been empty, it'd only taken a minute to check, seeing that the crops had been burnt out years ago.

"Why would he go into the forest though?" Allen asks him, also looking around.  
"Dunno. But he's not anywhere else." Lavi replies.  
"Maybe he already met up with Lenalee and Kanda." Allen says.  
"Maybe. But they would've come and told us by now. Since we're out in the open."  
"Yeah. Maybe." Allen stares out at the tree line, dotted with bushes and fallen trees.

"Do you think there are any zombies in there?"  
Lavi follows his gaze to look at the trees.  
"Reever said they'd swept the forest when they arrived, took out quite a few. There shouldn't be any in there. Even if there was, there'd only be one or two. I wouldn't worry about it." Lavi flashes Allen reassuring grin as he starts towards the trees.

Clouds started speeding across the sky, tinting the sun's light grey. It was almost midday - their planned departure time - yet Lavi and Allen had just entered the forest in search of Johnny, the others, and their misplaced supplies.

"Johnny? Are you in here!?" Lavi calls into the forest around them.

"I don't hear anything." Allen says, looking around at the dark forest.

"Yeah. Maybe he's deeper in. Or on the other side." Lavi looks back the way they came before scanning their surroundings. "We just need to keep looking."  
After a few minutes of walking, the forest floor became ridden with large roots and thicker bushes.

The two were forced to half climb and half jump over the roots and bushes. Soon the bushes dispersed into damp leaves.

As the two went further into the forest, they heard shouting.  
"Is that Johnny?" Allen asks as the two speed up.  
"Not just Johnny." Lavi replies, vaulting over a particularly large root. "Johnny!"

In a small clearing, Johnny and Reever stand with weapons drawn. They're surrounded by some undead, slowly inching towards them.

"Johnny! Reever!" Allen calls out, waving to them.

The nearest undead turns towards them, baring it's rotten teeth.

"Ah, I got it." Allen pulls out his pistol and aims it at the undead.

As he pulls the trigger, it's head explodes, causing the rest of the body to topple backwards.

But, just as it's about to hit the ground, the zombie regains it's footing, standing up straight.

"What?" Allen stares at the undead's head, now with the top split open.

"Get back!" Lavi moves forward, gun drawn.  
He shoots at the head again, giving the same result.

"The chest!" Reever calls out, waving to Lavi. "Hit it in the chest!"

"The chest?" Lavi shrugs and aims his gun, only for it to be grabbed by the undead.

"Al!" Lavi calls to Allen as he struggles with the zombie. 

Allen raises his gun, but the undead is moving too much to get a clear shot. He then pulls out his knife, Crown Clown, and points it at the zombie.

"In the centre!" Reever calls again, pointing to the centre of his chest.

Allen nods at Reever before taking a step closer to the zombie.

"Any minute now, Al!" Lavi says, still struggling with the undead.

Allen bends his knees a bit before lunging forward, pressing the knife squarely into The zombie's chest.

The undead collapses, taking Allen's knife with it.

"Ah!" Allen falls forward as he tries to dislodge the knife. He falls on top of the corpse, smearing red and black across his jacket.

"Gross." Allen mutters, finally pulling out the knife.

"Don't rest yet." Lavi says, staring at the three other undead who are staring at them.  
"Right." Allen gets back up and draws his gun.  
The next closest two head towards them, shuffling their feet against the raw earth.

Allen steps forward to line up his shot as the undead closes in. As Allen prepares to shoot, the zombie stops right in front of him.  
"What?" Allen mutters, lowing his gun slightly.

The zombie stares straight at Allen with it's remaining eye, the left one a mess of torn flesh and shattered bone.

It almost wavers slightly before turning away from Allen to head towards Lavi.  
"Hey!" Allen calls to it.

It stops for a moment before continuing forward.

"Shoot it!" Lavi call back to him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Allen takes the shot and the undead falls in front of Lavi.

"What the heck?" Lavi mutters.

"Ah ha!" Lavi and Allen turn to see Reever smash the chest of the second undead. The other already on the ground.

"You okay?" Lavi asks, heading over to the two.  
"Yeah, we're fine." Reever answers, wiping his forehead.

"What happened just then?" Johnny asks, looking at Allen.  
"I don't know." Allen says, glancing back at the fallen zombie.

"The other ones, they we're going for you either, they were going after Lavi." Johnny says, glancing over at Lavi.  
"Maybe they couldn't resist me." Lavi says, grinning.  
"But that one." Johnny looks over at the one furthest away. "It did what you said."  
"What do you mean?" Allen asks.

"When you called to it. It stopped, yeah?" Reever answers.

"It- it just stopped for a second." Allen says, looking over at it.  
"But it stopped." Reever presses.  
"Yeah, I guess." Allen looks away to stare up at Reever, who's got a thoughtful expression.

"What does it mean?" Johnny asks Reever.  
"I'm not sure. But for now, we need to find Jiji and Tapp." Reever says. "You didn't see them anywhere did you?"  
"No, we checked everywhere." Lavi answers.

"Well, let's get out of here and figure out what's going on later." Reever commands as the four make their way out of the forest.

_

At the forest's edge, the group hear some faint shouting.  
"Is that them?" Johnny asks.  
"Could be." Reever answers as they head to the source of the sound: the house.

As they head over, the shouting grows louder.

"Shut up!"  
"It's gonna get us!"  
"We gotta wait."  
"All of you. Shut up!"  
"Don't be so rude." 

The four head around the front of the house, where they spot three undead clawing against the door, all with their heads blown up or off.

Lavi immediately draws his gun to shoot the nearest one, with Allen close behind. After a few more shots, all the undead are collapsed on the porch.

Lavi walks over to the door, where the voices have gone silent. Just as Lavi moves to open it, it swings open.  
"Tapp!" Johnny rushes forward as Tapp, Jiji, Kanda and Lenalee appear in the doorway.

"What the fuck!?" Kanda growls, glaring at the fallen zombies.

"How did you do it?" Jiji asks Reever after everyone had assembled on the porch around the bodies.

"Shot to the chest, apparently that's what takes them out now." Lavi explains to a glowering Kanda.

"Two shots. One to the head and one to the chest." Reever says to a distressed Jiji and Tapp.

"That makes no sense." Jiji says, staring down at the nearby corpses.

"Well, how about we find out what's going on." Reever leans down next to the nearest body and pulls out a pair of gloves from his pocket.

He slips them on and rolls the body over onto it's back to get a look at it's chest.

"The zombies are caused by a virus. One that kills the host and corrupts the brain."  
"And…?" Lavi asks, crouching next to Reever.

"That was out prior understanding, but something's changed. Or maybe, it was always different."  
Reever pushes the torn flesh away from the chest, revealing a black mass in it's chest, impaled with a bullet.

The mass is a small sphere, around 3 inches in diameter. It's surface is uneven and hard, still wet with blood and long, pale filaments holding it in place.

"What's that?" Lavi asks, leaning over to get a better look.  
Reever pulls it from the chest with ease, the thin fibres snapping at the slight touch.

As the pick it up, the bullet falls out onto the porch, covered in a black liquid. From the hole, more liquid leaks out.  
"Step back." Reever commands as he drops the sphere in front of him as the liquid bursts free.  
"Gross." Allen mutters as the liquid flow falters.  
After a second, the sphere cracks open, the wound slowly spreading uphill the ball splits in two, revealing a clear, red tinted gel within.  
The gel quickly melts in the sun, melting into a blood-like red before dissolving in the black stain on the porch.

The group stare at the remains for a minute, just watching the black harden across the wood and the sphere dry, turning to black flakes.  
"That was weird." Lavi says, after the remnants had gone still.

"Yeah." Reever crouches back down and prods the sphere. "It's solid."  
He picks the two pieces up, weighing them in his hand. "They're light and not so thick."  
Reever runs his thumb over the outside and then the inside, which has the same texture.

"Don't touch it." Reever says, looking down at the dried stain. "That's most likely the concentrated virus, touch it, and you'll turn."  
"What?" Johnny jumps back, hiding behind Tapp.  
"Are you sure?" Lavi asks, warily watching the blackness.

"90%. Which is enough." Reever replies. "Okay! Our plans haven't changed."

He turns to Lavi and Kanda. "Are you still ready to go?"

"The supplies are almost all packed, so yeah. But, are you sure you don't need us?" Lavi says.  
"Whatever this is, we'll figure it out. It's our job." Reever replies. "We'll still be here when you get back. With or without Cross."

"We were just waiting of Johnny's things." Lenalee says.  
"We'll retrieve them while you finish up. A few of you might need to change clothes." Reever says, smiling as he look over at Lavi and Allen's bloodied clothes.  
"Yeah, that sounds fair." Lavi says.  
"Right. Well, let's get going." Reever says as the group disperses to their own devices.

"Here." Johnny hands a wrapped box to Lavi.

"What's this?" Lavi says, closing the car's trunk.

"It's the papers cross left us. I thought you'd might want them."  
"Thanks." Lavi says, taking the box off Johnny.

Lavi reopens to trunk to place it next to Johnny's supplies, which they'd finally recovered.  
"Hey Lavi? You got the time?" Lenalee pulls her head out of the back seat, where she'd been packing the last of the supplies.  
"Uh, it's around 3:30." Lavi said, checking his watch.  
"Oh okay. We should leave soon, then." Lenalee says, closing the car door.

"Yeah. Can you go get Kanda and Allen?" Lavi asks.  
"Sure, I'll be back in a minute." Lenalee heads out of the garage, waving at Lavi behind her.  
"I'll get Reever and the others to see you off." Johnny says, following after Lenalee.

"Great, thanks." Lavi give Johnny a wave before turning back to the car to close the trunk. 

_

"We already checked over here." Allen mutters.

"Shut up." Kanda growls back at him. "Keep moving."  
"This is boring." Allen complains, shuffling after Kanda.  
"You're making too much noise." Kanda says, stopping to turn around.  
"If you're worried about noise, then you should stop talking." Allen says, kicking a pile of nearby leaves.  
"Stop that!" Kanda growls, grip on his sword tightening.

"We already checked this part of the forest, there's no zombies here." Allen repeats, ending Kanda a bored look.  
"They're not immobile, brat. The could've moved around." Kanda says, continuing forward.

"How do you know they're moving?" Allen asks, falling into pace behind him.  
"I'd be able to tell, if you weren't being so loud!" Kanda says loudly, spinning around to face Allen.  
"Maybe you could hear if you stopped barking like a dog. Maybe you're just stuck with the IQ of one." Allen smirks at Kanda and turns away from him.

"Why you-"

"Kanda!"  
The two turn to see Lenalee skipping over, waving and smiling brightly.

"Lenalee!" Allen cries, running forward to meet her.  
"Hey, run into any trouble?" Lenalee asks him.  
"Nope. We've just been going around in circles instead." Allen replies, glancing back over at Kanda.

"We're not going around in circles, you dumb beansprout!" Kanda growls, stepping forward.

"Come on, we're already behind schedule." Lenalee prompts, leading the two boys back the way she came.

A few minutes later, the car was packed and they were ready to go and the others were seeing them off.

"Watch the road, if you hit a zombie, it could mean trouble." Reever advises.

"Don't go off road unless there's a road block." Jiji says.  
"Try not to drive around at night. It's more dangerous than the day time." Tapp says.

"Gotcha'. Thanks." Lavi replies, shaking Reever's hand before getting into the car.

"Roll in, kids. We're going on a road trip!" Lavi calls.

The Kanda silently takes the seat next to Lavi as Lenalee and Allen say their good byes.  
"Thanks for everything, Reever." Lenalee says, giving him a quick hug.

"Be safe, Allen!" Johnny squeezes Allen in a tight hug, tears streaming down his face.

"I'll be okay Johnny." Allen pulls back to smile at him. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah!" Johnny says, giving Allen a big smile. "See you soon."


	5. Chapter 4

After Allen got into the back of the car with Lenalee, Lavi started driving. Allen and Lenalee wave back at the four back in the garage as the car heads down the dirt road.

"Lenalee, pass the map." Lavi calls back

"Here." Lenalee produces a large map from under her seat and passes it to Lavi.

"Thanks." Lavi silently looks over the map as they continue up the straight road.

Suddenly, Kanda tenses up. "Stop!" He shouts, unlocking his door.  
"What?" Lavi exclaims, slamming his foot down on the breaks.

"What happened?" Allen asks, leaning forward once the car had come to a stop.  
"Kanda, what the hell?" Lavi says, turning to look at him, only to see his door open and his seat empty.  
"Dammit." Lavi mutters. He opens the door and gets out of the car.

"Let's go." Lenalee says, opening her door and following after Lavi and Kanda.  
"Coming!" Allen opens his door and carefully steps around the car.

"Is it alive?" Lenalee stares down at the body in the middle of the road.

"Isn't that the one from before?" Lavi asks, bending down to get a better look.

"You mean the one you didn't kill?" Kanda says, glaring town at the legless body.

"Ew." Allen says, once he'd gotten a better look.

"Ew is right." Lavi says, poking the body with his hammer.  
"You didn't get it's chest right? So, it's still alive…" Allen trails off as Lavi pokes the body again.  
"Yup." Lavi replies. "Think it's taking a nap?"  
"It can't sleep, idiot." Kanda growls.  
"Then why isn't it moving?" Lenalee asks, taking a step back.  
"Doesn't matter. Let's just throw it off the road so we can keep going." Kanda says, leaning down to grab it.

"Wait." Allen says.  
"What?" Kanda bites, glaring at Allen.  
"It moved." Allen answers, staring at the body's outstretched arm.

"Huh?" Lavi says, following Allen's gaze.

A moment later, the arm twitched, two of the fingers grabbing at the road beneath it.

"Let's just kill it." Kanda says, drawing his sword.

"Wait. I-I want to try something." Allen says, crunching down next to it.  
"What is it, Al?" Lavi asks,

"Do you think, it'll work like before? You know." Allen asks Lavi, looking up at him.

"Before? Oh." Lavi says thoughtfully. "I guess we'll find out."

"Before what? What happened?" Lenalee asks.  
"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you." Lavi says, giving her a sheepish grin. "When we were off looking for Johnny, we ran into a pack of zombies. When we tried to get their attention they went straight for me, even with Allen shouting at them."  
"I didn't shout at them." Allen mutters

"Meh, close enough." Lavi shrugs. "One of them, also, might've done what Allen said."  
"So, it listened to you?" Kanda asks.

"Kinda, we're not sure." Lavi answers.  
"How can you be not sure?" Kanda growls.  
"Maybe if you'd come to help, you could've figured it out for us, seeing that you're so smart." Allen retorts.

"Oi-"

"Let's just get this over with, we need to get moving." Lenalee steps between Kanda and Allen.

"Okay." Allen looks back at the twitching zombie.  
"Uh, move your arm." Allen says, focusing on the zombie.  
"It's not moving." Kanda says, leaning on the car.

"Shut up." Allen glares at Kanda before turning back to the motionless corpse. "Um, move forward."

The zombie remains motionless. head face down on the ground.

"Impressive beansprout, it didn't do anything."

"Shut it. I got this." Allen turns back to the zombie. Come on, do something!" Allen growls in frustration.  
The zombie lifts his head to look at Allen before opening it's mouth to groan.  
"Urg, shut it up!" Kanda complains, glaring at the zombie.

"You shut up!" Allen turns to glare at Kanda. Just as he speaks, the zombie's jaw snaps shut loudly, causing the four assembled to stare at it.

"Wait a second." Allen turns back to it. "Turn around."  
The undead looks at Allen for a second, before shifting it's weight to face Lavi and Lenalee on it's other side.

"Cool." Lavi says, grinning down at it.

"Great, you got a pet freak. Let's go." Kanda open's his door and gets back into the car.

"We should try again with a more mobile zombie." Lavi says, eyes still fixed on the zombie staring up at him.

"Okay." Allen gets up of the ground, dusting off his pants. As he move to turn away, the zombie moves again.

"Look out!" Lavi cries, causing Allen to turn around.  
The undead had leaped at Lenalee, who was trying to kick it away.  
"Shit." Lavi takes a step forwards and draws his gun, shooting the zombie through it's back and into it's chest.  
"Are you okay?" Allen asks, heading over to Lenalee.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just started me." Lenalee gives Allen a weak smile.

"We need to get going, incase any undead nearby heard that shot." Lavi prompts, heading back to the car.

"Yeah. We should get this off the road first." Allen agrees, glancing at the fallen corpse.  
"Ugh, fine." Lavi grimaces, inching closer to the rotting body. He grabs it's outstretched hand and tugs it forward, propelling it off the road and into a splatter of bushes.  
"That was pleasant." Lavi says, wiping his hands on his pants. "Well? Let's roll out!"

Another hour into the car ride and Timcanpy decided to spice things up. He'd landed in Kanda's hair after freeing himself from Allen's pocket.

"Tim!" Allen loudly whispers, trying not to disturb the older teen. "Get out of there!"  
"What are you doing sprout?" Kanda growls at Allen, turning to look at him.

"Uh, nothing." Allen leans back in his seat, carefully watching Timcanpy waddle across Kanda's head.

Lenalee, who was staring out the window seemed oblivious to the problem at hand.

Kanda turns back, grumbling something about idiots and bean sprouts.  
"Tim!" Allen gestures to Tim to return, only for the bird to turn away.  
"Whatcha up to, Al?" Lavi, who'd noticed Allen's whispering, looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"Uh." Allen subtly nods towards Kanda and Tim on his head.

Lavi's eyes widen and he had to hold back a snort.  
"What's your problem?" Kanda growls, not moving his gaze from the window.

"Uh, nothing, Yuu." Lavi answers, flashing him a grin.

Kanda scowls but says nothing.

"Lavi!" Allen whispers.

"Leave him, it'll be funny." Lavi whispers back.

"It won't be when Kanda decided to kill him!" Allen whispers urgently.  
"Uh, fine." Lavi leans over to try and grab Timcanpy, who skilfully dodges.  
"Jeez." Lavi leans over a little more, only to bump into Kanda.  
"What the hell-" Kanda spins to face Lavi, causing Tim to loose his balance and start chirping loudly.  
"What the fuck!?" Kanda bats at Tim as Lavi tries to grab the stray bird.

As all hell breaks loose in the car, Lenalee is roused to the peculiar view.

Allen is grabbing frantically at the bird as Kanda tries to bat it. Lavi is trying to steer the car while simultaneously watching the action from afar.  
"What is going on?" Lenalee exclaims, drawing the attention of everyone present.

"Uh…" Allen stares at Lenalee before slowly turning to the mid-air Timcanpy, flapping just out of Kanda's grasp.

"This thing was-" Kanda starts.

"His name is Timcanpy! And he was just bored. You should be nicer BaKanda." Allen grabs Timcanpy holding the bird close to his chest.

"Your damn bird needs to learn some manners." Kanda growls back.

"Chill out kids, don't make me pull over." Lavi calls back, sending a sideways grin at Kanda.  
"Shut it, rabbit. You weren't any help." Kanda barks, before turning back to Allen.  
"And you-" Kanda starts.

"Oh, stop it." Lenalee commands. "Just at least try to get along." She turns to look at Allen. "You should keep a closer eye on Tim, okay?" She then turns to Kanda. "And you need to stop getting so riled up. Now both of you sit quietly and Lavi, just keep driving." Lenalee huffs and leans back in her seat, staring out the window.

Kanda looks like he wants to speak, but he simply scowls and sends a glare at Allen.

Allen glares back, sticking his tongue out at Kanda before turning back out the window.

Lavi tries to hold back his laughter as he speeds up a little, continuing down the dirt road.

"What's that?" Lavi's voice rouses a sleepy Allen who'd been leaning against the window.

"What?" Allen sits up to lean over to look past Lavi's chair.  
"That." Kanda answers, pointing to the road ahead.

"It's red?" Lenalee asks, meaning forward to get a better look.

"I don't like this." Lavi mutters, slowing the car down as they approach.

As the car comes to a stop, the three passengers prepare to exit. Once stopped, Kanda springs out first, slamming the door behind him before Allen or Lenalee even got their doors open.  
"Wait up, Yuu!" Lavi calls after him, getting out of the car with Allen and Lenalee close behind.

The road is a dark, deep red and had an indistinctive texture to it. There are odd lumps across the ground, both large and small. The stains stretch farther than they could see, stopping abruptly at their feet at an almost perfectly straight line, sans a few stray lumps.

"What is it?" Allen asks, heading over to the edge.  
"Ugh, I hope it's not what I think it is…" Lavi trails off, crouching down to the stains.

"It probably is." Kanda says, eyes narrowed as he stares down the path.

"How did this happen?" Allen asks quietly, eyes fixed on the likely entrails of dozens to hundreds of zombies or humans.

"There's bullets here." Lavi comments, picking up a red stained bullet among the other remains.

"So these were zombies?" Lenalee asks.

"I'm not so sure." Lavi answers, still focused on the bullet in his hand.

"There aren't any of those black things, like the ones we found before." Allen muses, remembering the recently re-deceased undead.

"Yeah. And these are only a few days old, so they should be there." Lavi continues.

"Why do you say that?" Lenalee asks.  
"I mean, if the zombies had those 'black things' before, then someone would have noticed them, like Reever and the others. So they must've only appeared recently." Lavi explains.  
"And since this happened fairly recently, you think these were all live people?" Lenalee asks, horrified.  
"I'm not sure…unless…" Lavi trails off with a thoughtful expression.

"The people who did this took them." Allen finishes. "Do you think so?" Allen asks Lavi.  
"Maybe, but if someone did do this, then they might have the answers we need." Lavi answers, standing upright.  
"What should we do now?" Lenalee asks. "Do we just drive over it?"  
"I guess that's out only option if we want to move forward." Lavi glances over to the thick line of trees along the road.

"Okay, then, let's get moving already." Lenalee, looking extremely uncomfortable heads back to the car.

"Yeah, come on." Lavi motions for then all to get in. "We still got a long way to go."

_ 

The drive over the red road had been less than pleasant. The four had remained quiet the entire time, with eyes focused either ahead at the sky and hills or to the sides at the bright trees.

"We're done." Lavi's voice breaks the silence as he passes over the last stretch onto an asphalt road.

"Good." Lenalee lets out a deep breath.

"It's getting late, we need to find somewhere to set up camp." Lavi proclaims. "Speak up if you spot a nice spot." 

_

About half an hour later, they pull into an abandoned rest stop and trailer park just as the sun hits the horizon.

"Okay, let's set up the tents." Lavi takes charge so he and Lenalee unpack the tent and lanterns while Allen and Kanda explore the site.

Allen heads up a nearby hill that looks over the park. As he reaches the peak of the hill, Allen spots the sun lowering past nearby hills, dying the sky and clouds a million shades of red, orange, and yellow as blue and purple clouds rise behind him.  
As he moves to ear down the hill, a faint shouting sounds from the convenience store by the trailer park.  
Allen runs down the hill as Lavi heads towards the sounds below him.  
"Lenalee!" Allen cries as he reaches her.  
"Allen!" She smiles at Allen but has a concerned expression.

"What happened?" Allen asks.

"Kanda went into the store but someone started shouting… Lavi just went in to check with him." Lenalee explains.

"Oh." Allen starts over to the store after Lavi only for him to emerge a few seconds later.

"Lavi!" Allen waves to him and speeds up to meet him.

"Yo." Lavi waves back as Kanda emerges from the store with a figure in front of him at sword point.

"Who's that?" Allen asks once the two meet a few meters in front of Kanda.

"Kanda found him hiding in the back of the store." Lavi explains as Kanda makes his way over.  
"Okay. So who are you?" Lavi demands once they'd come to a stop a fair distance from the store.

The figure has a large black hood over his head, obscuring his face. His jeans are stained black and red.

"I can't." The man speaks in a vice neither hight nor low. .

"I think you should give us some answers, seeing that you tried to attack us a moment ago." Lavi answers, crossing his arms.

The man doesn't speak, so Kanda jabs him with his sword. "You still haven't answered the question."

The man huffs but doesn't speak.  
"Hey!" Kanda, who'd grown tired of the man pulls back his hood to see his face.

The man looks middle aged, but his head is balding, with only a few stray wisps of dark hair. His skin is pale and his veins pulse blue and black along side his deep bruises across this cheeks and forehead.

"What is your name?" Kanda growls, pressing his sword harder into the man's back.

"My name?" The man's voice cracks. "I can't remember anymore."

"You can't remember?" Lavi asks.  
"No." The man looks down, taking deep breaths.  
"Okay, why were you in the shop? Why'd you try to attack us?" Lavi tries again.

"I-I was with others before, I think, but I had to get away." The man explains.

"And the attacking part?" Lavi prompts.

"I just want to be left alone." The man shuffles a little, fidgeting under Kanda's stern glare.

"Why did you have to get away?" Kanda asks after a short silence.  
"Huh? Oh, well…" He trails off, not meeting Kanda or Lavi's eyes.

"Do you think he's armed?" Kanda ignores the man, speaking straight to Lavi.

"We should check, just in case." Lavi answers before kneeling down next to the man.  
"W-Wait!" The man tries to back up as Lavi reaches over to grab his arm.

As the man tries to stand Lavi pulls himself up, pulling a little too hard on the jacket sleeve.

As the jacket pulls back, the man's shoulder comes into view. Even in the darkness, the clear, deep wound is clearly distinguishable against his pale flesh.

"Shit!" Kanda, who'd spotted the bite, jumps back a little, pointing his sword at the man's chest.

"S-Sorry!" The man almost shrieks as he pulls away from Kanda.

"He's bit!" Kanda growls at Lavi. "We need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Lavi replies calmly, trying to stop the man from panicking.  
"I-I'm sorry, I should have said. I-" The man starts rambling, frantically looking around at Lavi and Kanda.

"It's fine, just chill out." Lavi tries again, gesturing to Kanda to lower his sword.  
Allen, who'd been standing back up to this point, steps forward to look closer at the man.  
"How long ago did this happen?" Lavi asks, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Uh, a few hours ago, when the sun was still up." The man looks to the sky near the horizon, lost in thought.

"Okay. Good." Lavi says. "Were you with other people? Where are they now?"  
"Not here, far away. I left, ran up the road, away from them." The man answers, talking far more slowly.

"Is he going to turn?" Allen asks quietly.  
"Seems like it." Lavi answers as the man looks around slowly.

"What should we do?" Allen wonders, watching the man.  
"We'll have to put him out of his misery. Dealing with a zombie isn't my preference and I doubt he'd be a fan of making the switch." Lavi give Allen a small smile before stepping forward.  
"We're going to help, okay?" Lavi speaks up, drawing the man's attention to him.  
"Help? Okay~." The man almost trips as he speaks.  
"He looks drunk." Comments Lenalee, who'd made her way over.

"Is that what usually happens?" Allen asks her.  
"Yeah, they're made less paranoid, so they're less likely to see the problem of being bit. It become a problem if people don't report it. But the symptoms show soon enough." Lenalee explains.  
"Oh, okay." Allen turns back to the man, who's fallen to his knees.

"Don't want to. Don't want to. They're monsters. Monsters…"  
"How much longer?" Allen wonders aloud, watching the man mutter incomprehensible words.  
"Half an hour? Maybe less." Lavi answers, still beside the man.  
"We should get on with it." Kanda grumbles, crossing his arms.  
"But-" Allen starts.  
"It'll only get worse, you realise." Kanda spits back, glaring at the bitten man.  
"Monster. Monster. Monster." The man keeps muttering, rocking back and forth.  
"Stop it." Allen mutters, eyes fixed on the man.  
"Allen? What's wrong?" Lenalee, who'd heard him, puts her hand on his shoulder.  
"Stop it."  
"Allen-"

"Stop!" Allen speaks far more loudly than he'd intended.

The man suddenly freezes, his rambling stopping abruptly.  
"Uh…" Lavi stares at the man.  
"Are you going to kill me now? So I don't become a monster?" The man asks far too calmly.

"Um…" Lavi looks up at Kanda.  
"I'll do it." Kanda steps in front of the man.  
"Oh, okay. Thank you, I guess." He closes his eyes as Kanda readies his sword.  
"Hey, Allen?" Lenalee speaks quietly. "Do you want to start setting up camp for the night?"  
"Yeah."

_

A few minutes later, Kanda and Lavi head back over to the car, Kanda wiping his sword clean as Lavi wipes his hands on his jeans.

"Where is he?" Lenalee asks, once they came close enough.

"Under the trees out back." Lavi answers. "We also grabbed this." Lavi pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to Lenalee.

In Lavi's hand is a small black bead, much smaller than the one they'd seen in the older undead, but it has an uncanny likeness.

"What is it?" Lenalee asks, fearing she already knew the answer.

"We found it in the chest of the man, where we shout him." Lavi explains.  
"Lavi!" Allen, who'd just closed the car's back door, heads over.  
"Al, everything okay?" Lavi asks, slipping the bead into his pocket.

"Yeah, I just need some help with the tent poles." Allen answers.

"Awesome, I'm dead tired." Lavi shoots Kanda a grin at the pun.

At the glare he receives in response he turns back to Allen with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway, let's get those tents!"

The rest of the night went by without incident. Once the sun was above the horizon, they'd began to pack up.

"Good morning." Lavi stretches loudly with a big yawn. "How did you sleep?"  
"Fine." Allen replies, also stretching his arms.  
"Come on, let's pack up." Lenalee commands, pushing Lavi slightly towards the tents.  
"Gotcha'." Lavi starts pulling the tent apart as Kanda stalks past.

They'd decided to set the tents up in the abandoned store, felling far more comfortable with the solid walls around them. Kanda and Lavi had swapped out shifts to watch the door, so both were handling that in there own ways.

"Al, lend me a hand, could you?" Lavi cheerily calls Allen over to pack away the tent poles and fold up the covers.

"Coming!"  
The tents took far less time to dismantle than to set up. They ended up just pulling it apart randomly in the hopes of speeding up the process. Luckily, Lavi pulled out the main pole early on, causing the tent to collapse in on itself.

After the tents and sleeping bags were packed back into the car, the four bid farewell to the rest stop to restart their drive.

A few hours of sleepily eating muesli bars and staring at flat fields and hills, they took a rest by a deep valley.

"Ow, my legs are all stiff." Lenalee complains, stretching her legs as her knees crack from disuse.

"Hey, nice view." Lavi heads over to a railing by the drop into the valley. A large forest stretches out beneath them, the leaves a mix of golden browns and bright reds.  
"It's almost Halloween, isn't it?" Lenalee wonders, staring into the forest.

"Three more days." Allen informs. "Cross has a calendar to keep track."  
"We should celebrate!" Lavi declares. "We can dress up and eat candy!"  
"What candy?" Lenalee interjects. "We don't have any, unless you've been holding out on us…"  
"No, no." Lavi assures. "But we can look for some. They don't really go off, so they'll be good no matter what."  
"I'm not so sure about that." Lenalee laughs.

"If we find another store or town, we could have a look." Allen offers.

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Lavi agrees.  
"Hurry up!" Kanda calls from the car, on which he's leaning.  
"Yeah, yeah." Lavi says, heading over.

"What's that?" Allen points to the hill across the road, where an odd figure is perched.  
"Is it a zombie?" Lenalee asks.  
"Let's go see." Lavi draws his weapon and nods at Kanda to do the same.  
"Oi!" Once at the road, Lavi calls to the figure, who'd facing the other way.

"Huh?" The figure speaks faintly before noticing the four below him. "Oh."  
He makes his way down the hill, raising his hands in surrender.

"I mean you no harm." He stops in front of them, allowing the group to take a closer look.

He's wearing a beige hoodie and black pants. He's got a large backpack on which is almost overflowing with unknown contents.

"Who are you?" Lavi asks, slightly lowering his hammer.  
"I am Doug." Doug answers, nodding his had slightly.

"Are there any more of you?" Kanda asks, not lowering his blade.

"Not here. My group has a base not far from here. I am simply observing the surrounding areas." Doug explains.  
"Has anyone joined your group in the last few days?" Lavi inquires.

"I believe so. One or two. We're a very large group so it's hard to keep track." Doug answers.

"Large? How many of you are there?" Lenalee asks him.  
"I couldn't say. We are only a section of a much larger organisation of hundreds of people."  
"Woah. Neat" Lavi praises.  
"We have plenty of supplies, and we're always open to new members." Doug informs.  
Realising what Doug was implying, Lavi shakes his head.  
"We've got to be somewhere. We're looking for someone."  
"Oh, well, I wish you the best of luck." Doug turns to head back up the hill.

"Uh, yeah. Bye." Lavi turns back to the car.  
"C'mon, let's get going." As the four prepare to leave, they hear a wail from across the hills.

"What?" Lavi springs back out of the car and runs for the hills with Kanda close behind. Allen and Lenalee bring up their flank as they investigate the sound.

Lavi stops dead once he spots Doug with a zombie at this throat.  
"Hey!" Lavi calls out and runs to the injured man.  
"Y-You…" Doug calls out weakly as Lavi smashes the undead off him.  
"It-it didn't work." Doug raises his gun for effect.  
Lavi looks back at the zombie with an obvious bullet hole right between it's eyes.

"You don't know?" Lavi asks, propping the man up.  
"Know what?" Doug asks.  
"Lavi!" Lenalee's cries cause Lavi to turn to the slowly recovering undead.  
"Oh, right." Lavi moves in and slams it in the chest, shattering it's sternum and hopefully crushing the weak point.  
"It's dead…" Doug stares at the fallen corpse with wide eyes.  
"Yeah, it's dead." Lavi reassures.  
"What happened?" Kanda walks over after checking the body.  
"Came outta nowhere. Sorry, it got me." Doug tilts his head upwards to reveal a bite mark in his neck.

"Yeah, we know. It's okay." Lavi gives the man a grin.  
"Make sure I don't come back. Do whatever you did to that." Doug gestures to the fallen undead. "And make sure I don't come back. Quickly." Doug gives a weak grin as Lavi nods.  
"Gotcha'."

_

"What should we do with him?" Lenalee asks as Lavi steps away from Doug's body.

"Dunno. His group would want to know, but we don't know where they are." Lavi replies, ribbing his head. "Geez, two in a row…" Lavi stares back at Kanda behind him.  
"Well, we'll just leave him there then." Kanda says heading past the three.

"We could leave a note or something." Allen proposes.  
"Yeah, let's do that. We don't want to spend too much time here." Lavi agrees.  
"We have some loose paper in the car I think…" Lenalee wanders back to the car after Kanda with Lavi and Allen close behind.

As they go over the hill, they spot Kanda with his sword drawn.  
"Another one?" Lavi asks, as he reaches the top of the hill.

Kanda has his sword positioned on a man's chest who'd dressed in a black trench coat and has his face obscured by a wide brim hat.

"What's going-" Allen, who'd come up behind Lavi looks over at Kanda before stopping short.  
"I just hope it isn't another bit guy. I'm can't deal with-"

"Cross." Allen mutters.  
"Huh?" Lavi looks down at the wide-eyed boy next to him.  
"Cross!" Allen sprints down the hill to Kanda and the man, who seem locked in an odd staring match.

"Who are you, old man?" Kanda growls, poking his sword into the man's chest.

"Why don't you answer your own question?" The man smirks at Kanda, riling him up further.  
"You-"

"Look, I'm a little short on time here." The man prompts.  
"You won't have any time in a second." Kanda retorts.

"Oh, that's what you think, eh?"  
"Don't try me."  
"Aren't I already? You really should work on your scare tactics."  
"Answer the question."  
"There's nothing wrong with admitting your weaknesses you know."  
"I'm not-"

"Cross!" Allen's voice draws the attentions of the two.  
"Wait, Cross!?" Kanda spurts, taking a step back.  
"Allen, you ruined my fun." Cross notes calmly as Allen comes to a stop between them.  
"Fun? You don't make any sense."  
"According to you I never do."  
"True enough." Allen gives Cross a small smile.  
"Al!" Lavi and Lenalee land next to Allen while looking curiously at Cross.  
"So, uh, you're Cross, I presume?" Lavi asks.  
"Cross Marian." Cross answers with a barely noticeable nod.

It's at that moment Timcanpy decided to make an appearance. The bird, who'd been in the car, lies out of the open door and onto Cross' hat.  
"Huh? Oh, hello Timcanpy." Cross barely glances up as the bird makes itself comfortable.

"What happened to you?" Allen asks.

"I'd give you the whole story but I'm short on time." Cross answers, glancing over at the hills.

"You'll have company very soon and I won't be mixed up in it." Cross sighs.  
"Company?" Allen prompts.

"Yes, don't worry they're friendly. For the most part anyway. It'd be best if you went with them."  
"Why?" Lavi interjects.

"Some of them you'll know quite well. All three of you." Cross explains, looking around at Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda.  
"Really?" Lenalee asks.  
"Yes." Cross takes a step back as Timcanpy rejoins Allen. "I'd best be going now. If you screw this up, come find me."  
"Wait! Cross!" Allen steps forward as Cross smirks and runs off.  
"Hey!" Lavi calls after the two.  
Cross spins around to face Allen, now a fair distance from the other three.

"Where are you going?" Allen asks, slightly out of breath.  
"Places. If you need, go to my address." Cross answers, smirking again.  
"Places? That's-"

"Hey!" A faint cry sounds to Allen's left, towards the hills.

"What the-" Allen starts as he turns back to Cross, only to be faces with an empty street ahead.

"Hey! Cross!" Allen takes a step forward as Lavi calls to him.  
"Al! Get back here! I think they're coming!" Lavi waves Allen over.

After taking one last look at the empty street, Allen turns to rejoin Lavi and the others.

_

A few seconds later, half a dozen men and women appear atop the hill.

"Freeze!" The leading man points his gun at the four. "Don't move."  
He heads down the hill, motioning for his companions to remain behind.  
As he stops in front of Lavi, he aims his weapon again. "Who are you?"

"Depends who you are." Lavi retorts, hand resting on his hammer.

"You are not in a position to make demands." The man takes another step forward.

"I'm not answering anything until I know who you are." Lavi says.  
"Fine. You're coming with us." The man gestures for them to move past him.

"What about our things?" Lenalee asks, gesturing to the car behind them.

"They'll be brought along." The man answers, just as a man and a woman come down the hill and head to the car.

"Come on." Lavi says, heading past the man.  
"O-Okay." Lenalee agrees, prompting Kanda and Allen to follow.

"Doug!" A distressed woman falls to her knees next to Doug's body.  
"What happened here?" The leading man turns back to the four. "Did you do this?"  
"He was bit. We had no choice." Lavi explains, gesturing to the fallen zombie next to Doug.  
"Oh Doug…"  
"Lillian, we should get going." The man behind the four steps forward.  
"Buzz, we can't just leave him!" Lillian cries out, taking Doug's hand.  
"We have a job to do." Buzz turns back to the group be hid him. "Let's go."  
"Uh, sure." Lavi agrees, stepping past the crying woman.

"Doug…"


	6. Chapter 5

"Can we take a break?" Lavi complains. "We've been walking for hours."  
"No. We must return as soon as possible." Buzz replies.  
"We'd walk faster if we had a short break." Lavi counters.

"No." Buzz powers ahead with barely a glance at Lavi.  
"Plan 'get a break' has failed." Lavi whispers to Lenalee and Allen behind him.  
"Great name." Allen mutters, giving Lavi a small smile.  
"Hey, how much further to go?" Lavi speaks up, looking back over at Buzz.

"Another hour or so." Buzz answers.  
"Ugh." Lavi moans, slumping over.  
"C'mon. It's not that much further." Lenalee coaxes. "We can rest when we get there."  
"I guess. Okay." Lavi recovers, standing up straight and speeding his pace.

"Try and keep up kids!" Lavi calls back as he moves behind Buzz.  
"You'll just tire yourself out, Lavi!" Lenalee calls back.

Lavi waves back, eyes still facing forward.

"Let's speed up, Allen. We don't want to be left behind." Lenalee winks at Allen as the two increase their speed to join Lavi.

Kanda was in a bad mood. His sword had been confiscated and he has two armed guns against his back.  
Along the horizon, a large town appeared, surrounded by a high fence. There's a high rise in the centre, covered in glass windows and open balconies.

 _Probably a hotel._

The group heads for a large gate, manned by four more armed guards, who raise their weapons once they're in range.

"It's Buzz. We found some survivors." Buzz calls to them as they approach.  
"Buzz. You were sent to back up Doug." A masked man steps forward. His face covered by a tragic-looking mask, dyed grey and red.  
"Doug didn't make it." Buzz explains.  
"That's unfortunate. I'll radio it in." The man turns around and pulls out a walkie talkie which he starts muttering into.  
After a second, the gates swing open, revealing a few men dressed in a white almost-uniform.  
"Welcome back everyone!" The leading man in white opens his arms. "And welcome survivors!"

"Komui?" Lenalee speaks up, pushing past Buzz.  
"Eh? Lenalee?" Komui's eyes widen and he takes in a shaky breath.  
"Big brother!" Lenalee smiles widely as he runs up to Komui to embrace him.  
"Lenalee!" Komui's eyes start tearing up as he opens his arms to his younger sister.

"Komui." Kanda steps forward.  
"Eh? Kanda? You're here too?" Komui looks over Lenalee's shoulder. "That's good." Komui smiles as he lets go of Lenalee to better see Kanda.

"Komui, you know these people?" Buzz asks him, stepping in front of Kanda.

"Oh, yes, this is my dear sister Lenalee and Kanda. We were in a group together before we were separated." Komui sends his sister a fond smile before continuing. "We should talk inside."  
"Fine." Buzz agrees and heads inside, with the others in tow.

Komui led the four into the skyscraper in the town centre. There were people with large firearms patrolling the streets and standing guard outside the building.

As they past, Lavi notes the serene calmness of the town. Even with so many people patrolling around, there was a sense of security Lavi had never felt before. All the building they pass have been fortified, with boards across windows and any missing walls or roofs patched up sturdily.

The streets were mostly empty, with people preferring the sidewalks. There were a few vehicles on the road sides, which Lavi assumed were used for patrols.

Lavi was surprised at the amount of people here. Every street is filled with people bustling about. Likely because it was midday, it seemed almost everyone was outside; chatting and walking.

"Is it always this crowded?" Lavi asks Komui, once he'd taken a break from talking to Lenalee.

"Ah, yes. We have many people here, with almost every house occupied." Komui gestures to the houses along the street.  
"Still, I'm impressed." Lavi continues.

"This town is part of a much larger organisation." Komui explains. "Our is the largest settlement but we have strong connections to many across the country."  
"That's a lot of people." Lavi comments.  
"It is. Just here we have over two thousand residents." Komui boasts, puffing out his chest a little.  
"And you're in charge?" Lavi asks.

"We run a committee to watch over the town, but I'm in charge of that so…" Komui gives Lavi a big grin. "I suppose I am in charge."  
"I see." Lavi awkwardly returns the grin before going back to looking around.

"We're almost there." Komui informs just as they turn the next corner.

In front of them is the large sky scraper they'd seen from the entrance with the lower windows boarded up and the higher ones still intact. There are small balconies along the highest levels, dozens of floors above them.

"Wow." Lenalee breaths, staring wide eyed at the structure.

"It's great isn't it?" Komui says. "This town used to live of the building by using it as a five star hotel. It contains hotel rooms, offices, conference rooms, spas, shops and restaurants." he explains.  
"And you use this as your headquarters." Lavi says.

"Yup." Komui agrees. "We've set up out official guards and committee members in the rooms here as well as using many for storage and management." Komui explains. "Come in, I'll show you around."

The inside was far more luxurious than the outside, with large red and black curtains, glossy tiled floors and golden embellishments on every piece of furniture.

"Classy." Lavi whistles loudly at the bright interior.

"We've tried to keep it as it was." Komui explains. "Though, there are a few…" Komui glances over to his left, where a large amount of wall has been destroyed, covered only by a sheet of wood.

As the group moves through, Allen spots bloodstains across the floor alongside deep cracks and worrying bullet holes.  
"Any idea what happened?" Lavi asks Komui.

"No, when we found it, this place was empty." Komui answers. "No undead, no nothing."  
"Oh." Lavi nods and continues his silent analysis of the building.  
"Brother?" Lenalee starts curiously, moving to walk by Komui.  
"Yes, my dear Lenalee?" Komui replies excitedly, taking her hand.  
"Where are we going?" She asks, giving Komui a pleasant smile.

"To my office!" Komui answers proudly. "It's just one floor up."  
"What do you need an office for?" Allen wonders aloud.

Komui turns to smile at the younger boy. "We have to keep records of all our supplies and how many people are here and a few other things."

"That sounds like a lot of work." Allen remarks.

Komui deflates slightly, gripping his sister's hand tighter.  
"Brother?" Lenalee peers down at him worriedly.

"Too…much…work…" Komui groans.

"Are you okay?" Lavi asks Komui, tapping him on the shoulder.  
Komui sniffles before dramatically throwing himself at Lenalee. "I can't take it-"

"It's…uh, it's okay big brother." Lenalee awkwardly comforts Komui, patting him on the head.

Beside Allen, Lavi is stifling a laugh and Allen himself can't help but grin.

"Let's just go." Kanda growls at the older man, who's leaning heavily on his younger sister.  
"Alright." Komui slowly let's go of Lenalee before shuffling forward.  
"I think we need to avoid that topic from now on, Al." Lavi advises quietly.

"Yeah, okay." Allen agrees, eyes fixed on the recovering man.

Komui's office is relatively large, taking up most of the floor and full of desks and cubicles arranged around the space. Also in the room is a few hundred stacks of paper, all covered in scribbled down numbers and names, as far as Lavi could tell. There are about a dozen other people milling around the space, rummaging through the piles of papers.  
"Komui!" A woman in a long white coat heads over to them, waving a few papers in Komui's face. "I found the canned food reports for last week."  
"Great!" Komui grabs the papers, flicking through them. "Where'd you find them?" Komui wonders.

"Uh, in one of the piles on your desk." The woman replies, looking at Komui curiously. "Even through you said you'd checked."

"Ah, yes." Komui let's out a laugh, waving the papers around. "I must've overlooked them." He gives the woman a smile as she sighs loudly.

"I'll get back to work." The woman walks away, back into the maze of desks and papers.

"Over here." Komui takes a seat on a large chair behind a large, dark wood desk. In front of the desk are a few couches and seats.  
Lavi takes a seat on the largest couch, leaving room for Allen and Lenalee. Kanda grunts and remains standing.

"So, I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves." Komui looks over at Lavi and Allen. "I'm Komui Lee and I'm in charge of this fine settlement." Komui looks over at Lavi expectantly.

"Lavi." Lavi says, taking the hint. "Lavi Bookman." Lavi gives Komui a friendly smile.

"And…" Komui looks over at Allen, who introduces himself. "My name's Allen Walker."  
"Wonderful!" Komui exclaims happily. "So, how'd you all meet?"  
"We were in a settlement together, big brother." Lenalee explains. "Lavi, Kanda and I were, anyway."  
"What happened?" Komui asks, concerned.  
"What always happens." Kanda answers bitterly. "What else?"  
"I'm sorry." Komui apologises before looking over at Allen. "You said you weren't with them?"

"We met Allen a few days ago." Lenalee answers. "The, uh, same thing happened to him."

"Oh." Komui answers awkwardly. "Sorry." Komui apologises again, this time to Allen.  
"Oh, It's okay." Allen says, giving Komui a weak smile. "It just happens, I guess."  
"Anyway, uh…" Lenalee looks over at Allen questionably. "There's something else."  
"Huh?" Lavi says, momentarily confused. He looks over to Allen, who's sitting to his right and clutching his left arm. "Oh, right."  
"What is it?" Komui asks, standing.  
"Since you're in charge of some many people, I thought you might've seen something like it before." Lenalee hurriedly explains.

"Seen what?" Komui prompts.

"Al?" Lavi looks down at the younger teen, who hasn't moved. "You okay?"  
"Huh?" Allen looks up at Lavi, shaken out of his thoughts.  
"Wanna go show Komui?" Lavi gives him an encouraging smile.  
"Uh, it's okay if you don't want to, I mean-" Lenalee says quickly, not meaning to push Allen.  
"Oh, uh, it's okay." Allen mutters, standing up and going over to Komui, who's moved in front of his desk.

Allen glances back at Lavi, who flashes him a thumbs up. Allen smiles back before looking up at Komui.  
"You can show me anything, alright?" Komui encourages.

"It's okay Allen." Lenalee stands next to her brother.

"Mmhmm." Allen nods before moving to remove his left glove.

Komui stares as Allen's wounds come into view. As Allen removes his hoodie and rolls up his sleeve, Komui is frozen.  
"Big brother?" Lenalee's voice brings him back to reality  
"Oh, yes." Komui shakes his head before looking back at Allen's arm. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand." Komui takes a deep breath. "What happened?"  
"What does it look like?" Kanda asks, annoyed.  
"You were bitten." Komui answers.  
"Three times." Allen finishes. "A few days ago."  
"Hmm…" Komui looks at Allen thoughtfully. "I don't think I've ever seen something like this before, but…" Komui looks at everyone. "There have been some weird things happening recently."  
"You're telling us." Kanda scoffs.  
Komui sighs before continuing. "In the last week or so, we've been encountering more hoards, larger hoards. Even stranger is the fact that were unable to separate them. No matter how much noise we made or how many people we had, they refused to disband."

"There was something similar that we saw, wasn't there?" Lenalee muses,looking over at Lavi. " back at wells borough, I mean."

"Oh yeah." Lavi agrees. "When we left, there was this huge hoard, even with us in two groups,MIT didn't seem to split up."

"I though Road might've done something."'Allen confesses as he covers up his arm again.

"Yeah, me too..."

"Road?" Komui asks, clearly lost.

"She was a girl we met that hung around the undead," Lenalee explains. "She told them what to do and they'd do it."

"But that's impossible!" Komui responds, distressed. "A human controlling them..."

"We saw it, she got them to move strategically and refrain from attacking us." Lenalee continues.

"Hmmm." Komui tries to absorb the information as Lavi keeps speaking.

"That hoard was weird with Allen too."

"Oh yeah." Allen agrees. " they just kinda stopped when I got there."

"They didn't attack you?" Komui asks.

"Nope."

Was there anything else?"

"A little later, we tried again with that other one, on the road." Allen answers.

"The one we nearly ran over." Lavi confirms.

"You mean the one you didn't kill?" Lands bites back at Lavi.

"Hey! That's before we found out about the chest thing"

"Chest thing?" Komui echoes.

"We fought an undead that didn't die, even with is brains blown off." Lavi explains. "We had to end up getting it through the chest before it died."

"Do you know why?"

"We think it was this." Lavi removes the black orb he'd taken from the corpse. "This was in its chest."

"Can I see?" Komui asks.

Lavi hands the ball to Komui, who examines it curiously.

"In the chest, you say?" Komui rolls the ball across the palm of his hand. "I don't think we've encountered anything quite like this…"

"When we first saw those hoards, they dies normally, right?" Lenalee asks.  
"Yeah." Lavi answers. "I guess only more recent ones have it."  
"It's possible." Komui agrees. "We'll have to do some more tests, we don't have enough information to have a definite answer."

"Komui?" A man comes over, dressed in a long, cream coat.  
"Yes?" Komui turns to look at them.  
"Here are the field reports from this morning's mission to the forest." The man hands Komui a few sheets of paper.  
"Thanks." Komui barely glances at the sheets before throwing them haphazardly onto his desk.  
"Where did you even get all this paper from?" Lavi asks, staring at the piles around Komui's desk.  
"There's a paper machine in the basement." Komui proudly explains. "It uses up old sheets and turns them into new ones" Komui passes a sheet to Lavi. "See?"

Upon closer inspection, the paper is littered with darker and lighter patches, with faint text over some areas.  
"We're currently working on building another." Komui continues. "We're also hoping to produce toiletries and tissue paper soon."  
"So you're pretty high-tech?" Lavi concludes.  
"We try to be." Komui boasts, puffing his chest out.

"Anyway…" Komui turns back to his desk and begins rummaging through the stacks of paper. "Let's see…"  
"Komui?" A concerned woman calls over to the man. "Are you looking for this?" She heads over and grabs a sheet of paper that had fallen of Komui's desk before handing it to him.

"Oh, yes! Thanks." Komui grabs the paper. The woman shakes her head slightly before walking away.  
"You really should organise this, big brother." Lenalee advises, cautiously approaching the desk.  
"I don't have time!" Komui insists.

"You could do it now." Lenalee points out.  
"But Lenalee! I need this time to spend with my wonderful younger sister!"  
"Big brother…" Lenalee sighs as Komui attempts to regain his composure.  
"What's that?" Allen asks, pointing to the sheet of paper in Komui's hand.

"Oh, yes!" Komui looks down at the paper. "I'm just checking…."  
"Checking what?" Lenalee asks.

"Aright!" Komui happily exclaims. "There's a building free right by here."  
"A building?" Lavi asks, confused.

"You'll need somewhere to stay, right?" Komui answers with a smile. "Of course, my dear Lenalee can stay with me in this building, but you three can have this one." Komui enthusiastically shows Lavi the paper he was holding, revealing a map of the town. Komui points to a small building marked with a large 0.  
"This one's empty so you can move right in!"

By the time they'd reached their new 'home', someone'd already dumped all their stuff inside.

"Helpful." Allen mutters, kicked away their tent from the doorway so they could get inside.

"It's pretty roomy." Lavi notes, looking around.

The building they'd been given was an old convenience store. Komui had in insisted that the upstairs had been a living space for the previous owners. The store itself has large glass windows across the front, partially covered by wooden boards.

Inside, all the shelves have been stripped of merchandise, leaving the white, metal stands against the walls. The counter had been partially deconstructed for wood, leaving a rusted metal frame by the door.

"It smells in here." Allen complains, inspecting the shelves.

"It's not that bad." Lavi assures Allen as he tries to open the windows.  
"They're locked." Allen says, noticing a small padlock.  
"There's probably some windows upstairs." Lavi guesses, looking for the stairs.

Kanda glares at the room and immediately heads for a small door behind the dismantled counter.  
He tries to handle and the door creaks open.

"Hey, you found it!" Lavi exclaims excitedly, sticking his head past Kanda and through the door.  
The stairs beyond are old and rickety, with signs of mould and old bloodstains along them and the walls.  
"Ew." Allen scrunches up his nose after getting a good look.  
"C'mon." Lavi heads up the stairs which loudly creak under his feet.

"Ugh." Allen heads after him, trying not to touch the dirty walls.

The stairs lead to a narrow hallway, decorated in dusty photos and a hideous, striped wallpaper.

At the end of the hallway is a large bedroom, complete with a small balcony looking out into the street. The room itself had two large beds and a couple round mirrors along the walls. A vase of wilted flowers sits by the door, which is next to a large, wooden writing desk.  
"I bet this opens." Lavi says, heading over to the large sliding doors. With a little effort, the doors slide open and Lavi steps out onto the balcony.

"Cool!" Lavi looks down into the street, where people are bustling about and chatting loudly.

"Let me see!" Allen pushes past Lavi to look around as the balcony creaks beneath them.  
"I don't think this is very safe." Allen notes, noticing the noise.  
"Nah, it's fine." Lavi assure him. "But, maybe we should go back inside."

"Yeah, okay."

The rest of the rooms are much smaller. One is a smaller bedroom and the other is a bathroom, complete with a suspicious bloodstained shower head.

"Let's not stay in here." Allen decides, shutting the door.  
"Hey, look at this!" Lavi calls from the smaller bedroom.  
"What?" Allen heads through the corridor to look at Lavi through the doorway.  
Lavi's siting on the floor by the bed, with a large box sticking out of the bottom. The box is open and one of Lavi's hands is currently rummaging through it.

"I found some cool stuff." Lavi looks up at Allen. "Like this!"  
Lavi pulls a plastic eyepatch out and holds it up. The eyepatch is decorated with a large, cartoon skull and cross bones.  
"I'm _so_ keeping this." Lavi slips the eyepatch over his already covered right eye.

"You look stupid." Allen remarks, turning away from him.  
"Hey! That's mean!" Lavi cries out, scrambling off the floor. "Maybe Yuu will appreciate it." Lavi heads to the stares, pouting.

"What are you doing?" Kanda, who'd just come up the stairs, glares at Lavi.  
"Oh, Yuu! I was just going to talk to you!" Lavi says happily.  
"Don't call me that." Kanda growls. "What the hell is on your face?"  
"You don't like it?" Lavi pouts again.  
"You're an idiot." Kanda decides and turns to head back down the stairs.  
"Hey!" Lavi heads after him, almost tripping and falling down the stairs. "Wait!"

The settlement was far larger than Lenalee had first guessed. It'd been over an hour and she's barely moved more than a few blocks from the tower.

Lenalee looks curiously at young children running through the streets, older people walking down the sidewalks and the hundreds of happy, healthy people around her. On her current street, people were trading jewellery, clothes and other things under tents and on blankets.  
As lunchtime approached, everyone seemed to gravitate to a large building along the widest road.

"Lenalee!" Komui runs excitedly towards her.  
"Big brother!" Lenalee smiles at her brother as he stops and catches his breath. "Where's everyone going?"  
"It's lunchtime." Komui answers. "All the meals are fairly rationed three times a day." Komui proudly explains.  
"That's great!" Lenalee replies happily.

"Let's go eat." Komui smiles widely and heads towards the building. "I sent someone to go tell Kanda and the others."

"Allen! Help!" Lavi cries loudly as he attempts to run from Kanda.  
"This is your own fault, Lavi." Allen points out, not moving from his seat on the stairs.  
"Get back here!" Kanda brandishes his sword as the two weave through the empty shelves.

"Yuu, don't do this!" Lavi calls, enraging Kanda further.

"You stupid rabbit-"

"Um. Excuse me?"  
Allen turns to see a concerned man in their doorway, dressed in a familiar cream coloured coat. The man's blond hair is swept back, with a dark strip of brown through the middle. His beard is neatly trimmed and his square glasses have a few visible scratches across them.  
"Hey." Allen gets up and heads over to him.  
"Are they okay?" The man asks, pointing at Lavi and Kanda.  
"They're fine." Allen gives the man a reassuring grin. "Was there something you needed?"  
"Oh yes." The man says. "Komui said to bring you to lunch."  
"Lunch?" Allen asks.  
"Everyone here eats together, so we can ration to food fairly." The man explains.  
"Oh, thanks." Allen says. "Just give us a minute."  
Lavi, who'd just fallen through one of the shelves, emerges, covered in rust and a few scrapes.

"I'm starving." he declares, getting up.  
Kanda, simply sheaths his sword and heads to the door, seemingly calmed by Lavi's injuries.  
"Let's get going then." Allen declares, stepping out into the street.  
"Wait, who's this?" Lavi asks, looking curiously at the man.

"Oh, I'm Jake Russell, nice to meet you." Jake extends his hand to Lavi.

"Nice to meetcha!" Lavi enthusiastically shakes Jake's hand.  
"Let's get going!" Allen demands impatiently.

"Okay, okay." Lavi agrees before turning to Jake. "Lead the way!"

"The canteen is much larger than just the one building, we have benches and tables in the park nearby being used as well." Jake explains as the four head down the street. "We use warehouses at the edge of town to hold all the food, that's why the canteen is kind of out of the way." Jake gestures to a bunch of warehouses just visible past the canteen.

"How many people are here anyway?" Lavi wonders.  
"Last I checked it was around twelve hundred." Jake answers thoughtfully.  
"When did you last check?"  
"Last week sometime."

The group reach the large, glass doors where they can see people moving about with plates and bowls of food.

"Come on in." Jake pushes the door open and lets the three boys go inside.

"There they are!" Lenalee stands from her seat at the picnic table to wave at the door. Lavi immediately spots her and waves back, nudging Allen.

Lenalee waves them over, all holding small bowls.

"How're you settling in?" Komui asks, once everyone sits down.  
"Kanda broke the shelves." Allen replies, staring on his bowl of vegetable soup.  
"How? What happened?" Lenalee asks, concerned.  
"It was Lavi's fault." Allen quickly explains.  
"Lavi…" Lenalee looks over at him.  
"Hehe…" Lavi laughs sheepishly.

"Were all your things there?" Komui asks.

"I dunno." Lavi admits. "We didn't really check."  
"Well, if anything is missing, let me know." Komui says. "We can probably replace anything…"  
"Are we allowed to keep all our food and stuff?" Lavi wonders.  
"Oh, yes!." Komui answers. "Everyone is allowed their own share of supplies for personal use. You also get to keep some of your spoils from expeditions too, though most goes into the settlement."  
"Expeditions?" Allen asks, finally putting down his now empty bowl.

"Everyone who's able goes on expeditions to find supplies or does work here in the settlement." Komui explains. "Everyone chips in so we can get everyone food and basic supplies."  
"Do we get to go on expeditions too?" Allen asks hopefully.  
"Everyone from age fifteen to fifty are available to be chosen."

"Chosen?" Lenalee asks.

"We can't have everyone go out, so we try to even out the outside jobs amongst the whole population."

"What if you're _not_ fifteen to fifty?"Allen prompts, slightly deflated.  
"I suppose it depends…" Komui answers, seemingly oblivious. "We do have a few over fifty that still go out, but I don't think there's anyone younger than fifteen."  
"Big brother…" Lenalee says, nudging him.

"Huh?"  
Lenalee leans over and whispers in his ear.  
"Oh!" Komui looks back at Allen. "I see."  
"So…?" Allen asks expectantly.

"I suppose it wouldn't be a problem, as long as you're stick with the group…" Komui grins at Allen.

"Nice!" Lavi claps Allen on the back hard.  
"Ow." Allen grunts before turing to hit Lavi back.

"We only let five groups go out at any one time, so if you're that enthusiastic…" Komui trails off thoughtfully.

"How big are the groups?" Lavi asks.  
"Five to six people max." Komui answers. "We try not to have too many people out of the settlement, though…"  
"What?" Lenalee asks as Komui stares off thoughtfully.  
"You'd be surprised how little people want to go outside."  
"What do you mean?" Lavi asks.  
"Most people here don't even carry weapons." Komui continues.  
"So they're just ignoring the threat?" Lavi concludes.

"Yes, and that's no good for supply runs." Komui continues sadly. "People are getting too dependant on our gardens and most don't want to go out anymore."  
"That's…sad." Lenalee says, looking around at all the people. "I guess it's fair though, it's not the best out there."  
"Still…" Lavi trails off with a scowl.  
"Well, you service is appreciated." Komui smiles at them. "It'll be good to have some willing participants for a change."

After lunch, Komui leads everyone back to the main building, where they file into his office.

"We just need to add you into the job rosters..." Komui starts rummaging through his desk. "Any preferences?"  
"Not really." Lavi shrugs.  
"We'd be happy to help with anything." Lenalee continues, nudging Kanda. "Right?"  
"...Whatever." Kanda grumbles.

"Well, let's see…" Komui pulls out some notes, barely glancing at them. "Yes, this looks okay." He looks over to the assembled group. "You can leave now, if you'd like. You're jobs'll be announced in the morning with everyone else's."  
"You're very organised." Lavi notes. "I'm almost impressed."  
"We've been here a while." Komui smiles.

"Thanks, Big Brother." Lenalee says gratefully, smiling at Komui.  
"If you need anything else, come see me anytime!" Komui smiles back enthusiastically, turning his back on his messy desk.

"Don't forget all your work." A man standing by Komui reminds him.  
"Oh, yes."

The four leave the room and head for the exit.  
"So, where exactly are you staying, Lenalee?" Allen asks.

"Oh, I'm a few floors higher, next to Big Brother."  
"It's probably better than our place." Allen mutters.

"It's not so great." Lenalee admits. "It's small and kind of dirty."  
"Well, we'll show you our place and you can decided which one is worse." Allen decides, pulling Lenalee out the door.

"Well, here it is." Allen announces as the four enter the ex-convenience store.  
"There's so much room!" Lenalee exclaims walking into the space.

"Yeah, I guess." Lavi says, stepping in after her.  
"What happened here?" Lenalee asks, looking down at the broken shelves.

"It was Yuu." Lavi points as Kanda.  
"What? That was your fault, stupid rabbit." Kanda growls. "And don't call me that!"  
"That's how it happened." Allen explains.  
"Oh." Lenalee watches the two.  
"Here, I'll show you upstairs." Allen grins as he heads up the crooked stairs, Lenalee close behind.

It only took a few minutes to show Lenalee around, considering the tiny space.

So, the four regroup downstairs to talk. They push everything to the sides and lay out one of the blankets. They all sit down, except for Kanda who remains standing.

"It's just…a little too regulated for my taste." Lavi admits. "Too many forms and stuff, no fun at all."

"It's just how they're used to doing it." Lenalee counters. "We should try and fit in."  
"Ugh, lame." Lavi falls backwards.

"Maybe we'll get used to it." Allen suggests. "It might get better soon."  
"Doubt it." Kanda mutters.  
"But this place has hundreds of people." Lenalee adds. "There are little other ways to look after that many."  
"I guess." Lavi shrugs.

"And they can help collect information." Lenalee continues.  
"Information?" Lavi perks up a little.  
"About everything." Lenalee says. "You know, how to better survive or collect and grow food, or even about the _new zombies._ "  
"Fair enough." Lavi lies back down. "I just want to know what the hell's going on and if this place is going to help with that, then I'm all for it."

—


End file.
